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OBSTACLES TO PEACE 



OBSTACLES TO PEACE 



/ 



BY 



S. S. McCLURE 




BOSTON AND NEW YORK 

HOUGHTON MIFFLIN COMPANY 

<$be fitoer?i&e f&tej^ CambciDae 
1917 






COPYRIGHT, 1917, BY SAMUEL S.MCCLURE 
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED 

Published March IQ17 



<£-><* o 



MAR 20 1917 



>CU455958 






TO 

HERBERT C. HOOVER 

Chairman of the Belgian Relief Commission 

I dedicate this book, because in maintaining 
the traditions of the men who made the Republic, 
he has rendered a greater service to his country 
than any other man of his time. 



PREFACE 

The Obstacles to Peace are of two kinds: first, the 
questions involved in this war, which are territory, 
access to the sea, and national security; secondly, the 
states of mind of the peoples at war. 

The world of to-day is small in relation to popula- 
tions compared with past eras. The matters at issue 
are of crucial and capital importance. I have outlined 
these issues. It would be difficult to settle them if the 
nations at interest were friendly and filled with mu- 
tual trust and confidence. The reverse is the case, and 
I have tried to describe the extraordinary hatreds, 
contempts, and horrors that divide the warring na- 
tions; so I have given much space to the records of 
alleged atrocities. The most important single fact in 
Europe to-day is the feeling caused by belief in these 
records. This feeling constitutes the greatest single 
obstacle to an early peace. 

I have tried to make a picture of the actualities. I 
have used documents lavishly. I preferred to give the 
actual documents rather than a summarization in 
my own words. Not all the material I have quoted 
is of equal value. The views of publicists and his- 
torians are valuable principally in giving the atmos- 
phere of thought and the public opinion of a country. 

All the authoritative documents, all the details of 
atrocities are believed absolutely by the peoples of 
one or the other set of belligerent nations. 

I have quoted at length from Baron Beyens 5 book 

vii 



PREFACE 

Germany Before the War (Thomas Nelson's Sons), be- 
cause the author, in Germany, where he is well known, 
is accepted as worthy of quotation in authoritative 
German utterances. The German Foreign Office and 
Prince von Biilow quote him frequently. 

A very valuable book is the new edition of Imperial 
Germany (Dodd, Mead & Co.) by Prince von Biilow. 

Those who wish to learn more of the diplomatic 
history from 1870 to 1914 will find an accurate book 
■ — The Diplomatic Background of the War (Yale Uni- 
versity Press), by Charles Seymour, Professor of 
History, Yale College. 

A study of the diplomatic correspondence of the 
thirteen days from July 23 to August 4, with much 
additional material, is to be found in The Diplomacy 
of the War of 19H (Houghton Mifflin Company), by 
Ellery C. Stowell, Assistant Professor of Interna- 
tional Law, Columbia University. 

The New York Times Current History, in bound 
volumes, preserves a vast amount of fundamental 
material. 

The Rise of Rail Power in War and Conquest, 1833- 
1914- (J. B. Lippincott Company), by E. A. Pratt, is 
recommended to those who are interested in my 
chapter on the submarine. 

An extremely interesting study of the war is being 
published by George Barrie's Sons of Philadelphia, 
written by Professor Allen, of the University of Penn- 
sylvania. It is entitled The Great War. It is a very 
valuable work for the general reader. 

Thanks are due to the several publishers named 
above for permitting the use of extracts reprinted 
in this volume; also to Mr. Robert W. Service and 

viii 



PREFACE 

Messrs. Barse & Hopkins for the stanzas from 
" Grand-Pere" {Rhymes of a Red-Cross Man); to 
Messrs. Harper & Brother for the story of the Ems 
telegram from Bismarck's Memoirs; to Messrs. E. P. 
Dutton & Company for the passage from Belgians 
under the German Eagle, by Jean Massart; to Messrs. 
Charles Scribner's Sons for selections from Diplomatic 
Documents of the War; to Messrs. Dodd, Mead & 
Co. for the extracts from Maeterlinck; and to Mr. 
Alfred Noyes for the quotation in chapter xv. 

Ten years ago I visited England and Germany to 
study the situation that ultimately led to the War 
of 1914. At that time I met members of the Govern- 
ments and many leaders of thought in both countries. 
In 1910, through the courtesy of Mr. Bernard Mai- 
mon, I had access to a huge mass of diplomatic mate- 
rial — the complete diplomatic correspondence be- 
tween the Turkish Government and the other Govern- 
ments of the world for the last twenty-eight years of 
the reign of Abdul Hamid (which papers had been 
removed from Constantinople at the time of his ban- 
ishment) and the years following up to 1910. For the 
purposes of this book there is no such body of mate- 
rial in existence, and it is a great grief to me that I am 
unable to have these documents before me now. But 
the study of these dispatches gave me a very good 
background of knowledge of European diplomacy, for 
Turkey was, for many years before the war, the center 
of European diplomacy. It was in reading these dis- 
patches that I first got a real impression of Sir Edward 
Grey. 

From January 6 to April 26, 1916, I was mainly in 
Germany, with brief visits to Belgium, the Russian 

ix 



PREFACE 

East Front, Vienna, Buda-Pesth, and Constantinople. 

From July 24 to October 7, 1916, I was in England 
and France, where I was able to get some first-hand 
knowledge. I also visited Verdun and the Argonne. 

The value of this book lies in its documents. In 
selecting these my sole aim has been to present the 
same picture that the whole body of material would 
give. 

When I give my impressions I tell things just as I 
saw them. Belgium bulks large in the book. I could 
not help it. Belgium will bulk large in public opinion 
for a long time to come. 

Turkey gets nearly as much space as both England 
and France. That is because Turkey is the very crux 
of the Obstacles to Peace. The fate of Turkey is the 
issue of this war. 

I have devoted considerable space to the question of 
responsibility for the war. This question will not die. 

In an interview, October 23d, 1916, Sir Edward 
Grey said : — 

If we are to approach peace in a proper spirit, it can only 
be by recollecting and recalling and never for a moment 
forgetting what was the real cause of the war. 

Some people say: "Oh, we need not go back over that old 
ground now. Everybody knows it." 

You cannot go back to it too often. It affects the condi- 
tions of peace. Germany talks of peace. Her statesmen 
talk of peace to-day. They say: "Germany must have 
guarantees against being attacked again." 

If this war had been forced upon Germany, that would 
be a logical statement. It is precisely because it was not 
forced upon Germany, but forced by Germany upon Europe, 
that it is the Allies who must have guarantees for future 
peace. 



PREFACE 

And on the other hand, Von Bethmann-Hollweg 
always insists that Belgium must no longer be in a 
position to aid the enemies of Germany, and that Rus- 
sia was the immediate cause of the war. 

I owe a great deal in getting the material for the 
book to the assistance given me by the Governments 
of Germany, Austria-Hungary, Turkey, England, and 
France, and to many men in all these countries. 

Without the long-continued and considerate kindli- 
ness and helpfulness of my wife this book would have 
been impossible. 

S. S. McClure. 
New York City, February 17, 1917. 



CONTENTS 

CHAPTER I 

THE WORLD AT THE END OF THE NINETEENTH 
CENTURY 

Comparative status of Japan, Russia, Germany, the 
British Empire, and United States as to territory and ac- 
cess to the sea — New factors introduced into civilization 
during the nineteenth century. 

CHAPTER II 

ASIATIC TURKEY: THE BAGDAD RAILWAY . 

Agricultural and mineral possibilities of Asiatic Turkey 

— Asiatic Turkey the seat of great empires of antiquity 

— Turkey a natural fortress dominating Egypt, the Suez 
Canal, the Bosphorus, the Black Sea, the Red Sea, the 
Persian Gulf, Persia, India — Seat of power over Mo- 
hammedan world — Relation of Asiatic Turkey to Eng- 
land's power in Egypt and India — Germany's plan as to 
the Suez Canal — Significance of the Bagdad Railway — 
My interview with Talaat Bey on future plans of Turkey 

— Russia's interests in the Bosphorus and Asia Minor — 
Von Biilow on 1915 campaign in Mesopotamia — Quota- 
tions from Sir William Willcocks, Ellis Barker, Captain 
A. T. Mahan, Professor Rohrbach, Professor Seymour, 
Prince von Biilow, Count Reventlow. 

CHAPTER III 

TURKEY AND ANGLO-GERMAN RELATIONS FROM THE 
BOER WAR TO THE EUROPEAN WAR — 1899-1914 . 23 

Joseph Chamberlain on alliances between England, 
the United States, and Germany — Lord Salisbury on 
Anglo-German friendliness — Fashoda and threatened 
war between France and England — Effects of Boer War 
on world opinion — Anglo- Japanese Alliance of 1902 — 
Anglo-French Agreement in 1904, and Count Reventlow 

xiii 



CONTENTS 

thereon — The Kaiser's visits to Constantinople and the 
Holy Land, secures concessions for the Bagdad Railway 
— The Kaiser's visit to Tangier in 1905, reasons for, by 
Prince von Biilow — The Algeciras Conference of 1906 — 
Count Reventlow and Professor Seymour on the results 
of the Conference — Anglo-Russian Agreement of 1907 — 
Young Turk Revolution of 1908, Professor Seymour on 
results — Prince von Biilow on results of the Bosnian 
Crisis — King Edward's forebodings on account of the 
annexation of Bosnia and Herzegovina by Austria — San 
Giuliano, Foreign Minister of Italy, compares crisis of 
1908 with that of 1914 — Prince von Biilow on King 
Edward's visit to Berlin in 1909 — The Agadir Incident 
and Lloyd George's speech thereon — My interviews with 
Von Bethmann-Hollweg, April, 1916, and with Lord Hal- 
dane, August, 1916, on the Haldane Mission to Berlin, 
1912 — British Foreign Office on Germany's demand for 
neutrality treaty — Von Bernhardi on this demand — Sir 
Edward Grey on England's peace policy — Anglo-German 
relations up to 1914 — Proposed Anglo-German Treaty 
of 1914 (now first published) — M. P. Price, Professor 
Rohrbach, Dr. Jaeckh, Sidney Low, and Von Bethmann- 
Hollweg on this proposed treaty — Baron Beyens on 
Franco-German Agreement of 1914. 

CHAPTER IV 

THE THIRTEEN DAYS FROM JULY 23 TO AUGUST 4, 
1914 46 

Extracts from diplomatic dispatches — E. J. Dillon on 
the Austro-Servian Crisis — My interviews with Count 
Tisza, Count and Countess Berchtold, Baron Burian, and 
others on Austria-Hungary's reasons for making war on 
Servia — Extracts from diplomatic documents on the Aus- 
tro-Hungarian Crisis with Servia — Bismarck's story of 
how he manipulated the Ems Telegram and forced war in 
1870 — Baron Beyens on war- threats of the German Em- 
peror and of Von Moltke in 1913 — M. P. Price's analysis 
of Germany's position in 1914 — A. G. Gardiner on efforts 
of Von Bethmann-Hollweg and of Sir Edward Grey to 
prevent war in July, 1914 — G. Lowes Dickinson on 
Russia's previous mobilization. 

xiv 



CONTENTS 

CHAPTER V 

WHY DID ENGLAND ENTER THE WAR ? . . . .78 

Cause of war remote from England — Captain Mahan 
on England's duty — Extracts from diplomatic dis- 
patches — Letters between the President of the French 
Republic and King George of England — Austria im- 
movable against Servia — Germany's misunderstanding 
of other nations — Germany averse to war — How Rus- 
sia worked for peace — Sir Edward Grey's wise efforts 
to avert war. 

CHAPTER VI 

WHY DID GERMANY INVADE BELGIUM? . . .102 

Germany did not expect England's intervention — 
Speech of Senator Humbert, July 13, 1914, on France's 
unpreparedness — Incalculable advantages to Germany 
of advance through Belgium — Expectation of taking 
France on undefended frontier — Control gained of 
France's mineral resources — Petition of influential 
associations to German Government to take territory 
from France and to control Belgium after the war — 
What France lost through invasion — France strangled. 

CHAPTER VII 

THE SPOLIATION OF BELGIUM 114 

Von Bethmann-Hollweg's speech of August 4, 1914, 
telling why Germany invaded Luxemburg and Belgium 
— Description of Belgium's wealth — German requisi- 
tions of raw materials and machinery and other mate- 
rials — German theories of spoliation — Professor Mas- 
sart on causes of famine in Belgium — Report of Dr. 
Rathenau and Dr. Ganghofer on how Belgium was 
stripped — Official orders for stripping Belgium — Re- 
moval of machinery from factories — Maeterlinck on 
Belgium's distress — Spread of tuberculosis — Baron 
Bey ens on spirit of Belgium — Verhaeren on "Proud 
Belgium." 

xv 



CONTENTS 

CHAPTER VIII 

THE SUBMARINE IN ITS RELATION TO RAIL POWER 
versus SEA POWER 133 

Why Germany looks to submarine as surest weapon 
for success — Germany's rules of submarine warfare in 
force in April, 1916 — Captain Persius on submarine 
warfare — Dr. Flamm on submarine possibilities — Rail 
power versus sea power as exemplified in Russo-Japanese 
War — My interview with General Kuropatkin — E. A. 
Pratt, on "The Rise of Rail Power" — My interview with 
Heir Deutsch on Germany as self-supporting unit — 
Submarine murder at sea — Sinkings of Lusitania, 
Arabic, Ancona, Persia — Germany's warfare on mer- 
chantmen — Execution of Captain Fryatt — James 
Brown Scott on the legality of the execution — Ger- 
many's new submarine laws — "German Prize Law in 
its Latest Form," by Dr. Schramm — Letter in Lon- 
don "Times," July 16, 1914, by Sir Percy Scott, with 
extract from letter by a foreign naval officer, announcing 
a policy since followed by Germany. 

CHAPTER IX 
THE ZEPPELIN RAIDS IN ENGLAND 157 

Results of comparison of German official reports of Zep- 
pelin raids with actualities, in Liverpool, Birkenhead, 
Manchester, London, Grimsby — German illustrated book 
on Zeppelin raids — German belief in Zeppelin fables — 
Effects on England of Zeppelin raids. 

CHAPTER X 

THE GERMAN ARMY IN BELGIUM ACCORDING TO 
GERMAN DOCUMENTS 171 

German doctrine of war as explained in extracts from 
Clausewitz, Von Hartmann, Captain Walter Bloem, and 
German General Staff — Proclamations, notices, and let- 
ters addressed by German army officers to Belgian cities 
and villages — Address to population of Munster, August 
29, 1914, by General von Bissing. 

xvi 



CONTENTS 

CHAPTER XI 

ALLEGED ATROCITIES OF THE GERMAN TROOPS IN 
BELGIUM 180 

Facts accepted by Germany as well as by France and 
England — 

1. The Belgian allegations — 

Statements by Cardinal Merrier — Professor L. H. 
Grondys, a Dutchman of Dordrecht, on destruction at 
Louvain (a personal narrative) — Execution of a 
priest — Extracts from Gustave Somville's Book, "The 
Road to Liege," a narrative of personal observations at 
the time of the invasion — Extracts from notebooks of 
German soldiers and officers — Extracts from "Belgians 
under the German Eagle," by Professor Jean Massart — 
Story by South American Priest in Belgium — "The 
Helpless Victims," a letter to the " New York Times," 
by an American woman. 

2. Germany's defense — 

Statement by Dr. Alfred Zimmermann — Appeal to 
civilized world by ninety-three professors of German uni- 
versities. 

CHAPTER XII 

ALLEGED ATROCITIES ON THE GERMAN TROOPS BY 
CIVILIANS IN BELGIUM 212 

1. The German allegations — 

Extracts from the German White Book on Louvain, 
Dinant, Aerschot, and other places — What German 
children are taught regarding the invasion of Belgium — 
Emperor William's telegram to President Wilson — Von 
Bethmann-Hollweg's statement to the press of New York. 

2. Belgium's defense — 

Report of work of the Pax Society — Belgium Free- 
masons demand investigation under neutral auspices — 
Cardinal Merrier makes same demand — Letters of 
Bishops of Belgium to Bishops of Germany, Bavaria, 
and Austria-Hungary, denying charges and demanding 
neutral investigation — German Government always re- 
fuses investigation — What religious interests demand — 
Violation of international law in Belgium continues. 

xvii 



CONTENTS 

CHAPTER XIII 

EXTRACTS FROM THE HAGUE CONVENTIONS OF 
1907 232 

Selections from agreements made at The Hague by 
Germany and nearly all the other powers of the world — 
These selections apply to acts of Germany in Belgium. 



CHAPTER XIV 

THE NEUTRALITY OF BELGIUM ..... 237 

1. Early history — 

Statements of Von Moltke — Karl Hildebrand, Bis- 
marck, David Jayne Hill. 

2. The German case against Belgium — 

Von Bethmann-Hollweg in 1914 — Dr. Dernburg's de- 
fense of Germany in 1914 — Statements of Von Jagow 
and of German Minister of War in 1913 — Treaty be- 
tween Germany and Great Britain in 1870 — Gladstone's 
speech on treaty in 1870 — Stowell on Gladstone's 
speech — Study of documents found by Germany in 
1914 in Archives of Belgian Government — King Albert's 
statement in "New York World," March 22, 1915. 

3. Side-lights on Belgian Diplomacy, 1905 to 1914 — 

Statement by German Foreign Office — Correctness 
of Belgium's attitude indicated by Baron Beyens, April 
24, 1914, and by Baron Greindl, 1911 — Diplomatic 
documents on neutrality of Belgium. 

4. The Tragic Prelude — 

Germany's note to Belgium — Belgium's reply to Ger- 
many's demand — King Albert asks King George for 
England's diplomatic aid — Belgium, invaded, appeals 
to guarantors of neutrality — Germany's course — Re- 
fusal during years to define intentions — August 4, 1914, 
war declared — King Albert's address to Belgian Parlia- 
ment — Heroic dispatch to Belgian Foreign Ministers 
in all lands. 

5. Statements of Baron Beyens, Belgian Minister at Berlin — 

Relations of Kaiser Wilhelm II and King Albert — 
Early hints of war — Plans of German Staff unfathomed 

xviii 



CONTENTS 

by prophets — Days just before the invasion — Diplo- 
matic letters and conversations — Kaiser and Chan- 
cellor address the Reichstag. 

6. Germany's charges at beginning of the war — 

Statements published September, 1914, signed by 
many leading Germans — Investigation of these allega- 
tions by two distinguished French professors — Course 
of France indicated by orders of Joffre and Messimy. 

7. The innocence of Belgium — 

German war plans discussed in "Deutsche Kriege Zei- 
tung" — Germany's strategic railways — Plan of cam- 
paign dates back to the elder von Moltke — German In- 
telligence Department badly informed. 

CHAPTER XV 

THE GERMAN THEORIES AND PRACTICE OF DEPOR- 
TATIONS AND OF TERRITORIAL APPROPRIATION . 295 

1. Origin of theories — 

Importance of natural safety to a dominant nation — 
Germany in nineteenth century. 

2. Mission of German people and their sense of superiority — 

Baron von Stengel on Germany's gift of peace to all the 
world — Opinions of Professors Eucken and Ostwald, of 
the Kaiser, of Von der Goltz, Dr. Lasson, and others — 
The German God. 

3. Inferiority of other nations — 

Feeling against England expressed by Meyer and 
Rohrbach. 

4. Germany's policies for expansion and methods to be em- 
ployed — 

Views of Lagarde, Wagner, Lange, Tannenberg, Fry- 
mann — Proposed peace terms with France — Wolff on 
policy of conquerors — Rohrbach on small states — 
Tannenberg's Greater Germany. 

5. The Belgian deportations — 

Descriptions by Boulger and Cardinal Mercier — Ap- 
peal to America from Holland — Stoddard Dewey — 
Belgian Syndicalist Committee — Municipal Council of 
Brussels — Women of France — Elihu Root. 

6. The spoliation of Poland — 

German "Import Company, Ltd." — Starvation and 

xix 



CONTENTS 

deportation reports from "Nowa Reforma," "Journal de 
Geneve," "Lodzianin " — Statement of Von Hindenberg 

— Explanation of German theories of requisition by Von 
Hartmann. 

7. Deportations from Lille and other French cities — 

Report by French Government — Proclamation of 
German authorities — Protests of Mayor and of Bishops 
of Lille — Letters from victims — Letter to the President 
of the French Republic. 

8. The German state of mind — 

Its causes — Effect on public opinion by use of poison- 
ous gases and burning liquids — Refusal of Turks to use 
liquid fire — Destruction of monuments justified by Gen- 
eral von Disf Urth — Mistaken methods of Germany — 
Effect in England of executions of Captain Fryatt and of 
Edith Cavell — Effect of deportations in England and 
France — Individual liberty versus state dominance. 
8. Mass psychology — 

German machinery of unification — Results in Bel- 
gium and Poland — Root quoted — Two illustrations of 
the German psychology: Attempted embroilment of Ja- 
pan and Mexico with United States; charge of Zimmer- 
mann of United States "plot" against Germany. 

CHAPTER XVI 

ALLEGED ATROCITIES IN FRANCE . . . . .352 

Extracts from French Official Report — Treatment of 
civil population — Crimes against women and girls — 
Shooting of prisoners — Massacre at Nomeny — Two 
days of massacre at Gerbeviller — Sister Julie's testimony 

— That of Professor Morgan — Story of "Day of Honor," 
September 24, 1914, by German officer, Klempt, in "Jau- 
ersches Tageblatt" — Stephen Pichon on "Martyrs of 
Alsace and Lorraine." 

CHAPTER XVII 

ALLEGED ATROCITIES BY THE RUSSIAN SOLDIERS IN 
EAST PRUSSIA 364 

The Kaiser's message to President Wilson — Story of 
Cossack invasion of Bearskin District. Atrocities during 

xx 



CONTENTS 

first Russian invasion, from German Official Records — 
Harsh war levies and treatment of hostages — Story of 
woman from Borszymmen — Deportations to Siberia — 
Summary. 



CHAPTER XVIII 

ALLEGED GERMAN ATROCITIES AGAINST THE RUS- 
SIANS S71 

Russian official report of German treatment of Rus- 
sian envoys and their families departing from Berlin — 
Treatment of consuls — Departing distinguished visi- 
tors arrested as "prisoners of war" — Conditions of 
travel of departing Russians, women and children, aged 
and invalids, chiefly from German health resorts — Rus- 
sians treated as common criminals — Arrest of Mr. 
Shebeko, Member of Imperial Council, and outrage on 
Countess Worontzoff-Dachkoff, wife of the Vice-Regent 
of the Caucasus — Despoiling of invalids in German and 
Austrian health resorts — Regions devastated on with- 
drawal of German troops from Russian Poland — Ger- 
man atrocities investigated by Extraordinary Commis- 
sion appointed on initiative of Russian State Duma — 
The Germans in Czenstochow — Riches stolen from 
monastery of Iasnogor — Poignant story of Mile. Helene 
S., who escaped to Petrograd. 



CHAPTER XIX 

THE TRAGEDY OF ARMENIA: THE TURKISH METHODS 
OF SPOLIATION, DEPORTATION AND MASSACRE . 390 

A million and a half people robbed, tortured, driven 
from home — Half of them perish under appalling atroci- 
ties and cruelty — "Turkey for the Turks" new idea of 
rulers — Talaat Bey's estimate of number of expelled 
Armenians — Turkish methods unparalleled in history 
— Story of eighteen thousand exiles in one caravan — 
Armenian colleges established by Americans — Profes- 
sors and students arrested, tortured and murdered — 
Mamouret-ul-Aziz in 1915 — At Aleppo — In Marash — 

xxi 



CONTENTS 

Results of deportations in certain provinces — A million 
deported from six provinces and not one Armenian left — 
Armenian soldiers massacred — Women and children 
prisoners burned at Bitlis, Moush, and Sassoun — Vic- 
tims outraged, mutilated, shot, drowned, and stabbed — 
Extracts from interview with Commissioner G. Gorrini, 
late Italian Consul-General at Trebizond — Proclama- 
tion commanding deportation by Turkish Government. 

CHAPTER XX 

ALLEGED AUSTRO-HUNGARIAN ATROCITIES IN SERVIA 405 

Personal investigation by Professor R. A. Reiss, of 
University of Lausanne — Massacres of civilians by 
"bloodthirsty and Sadie brutes" — Sinking of Ancona re- 
lated by Dr. Cecile Greil, American woman survivor — 
Over two hundred perished in this disaster. 

CHAPTER XXI 

ENGLAND 411 

The feeling as to Germany — As to the navy — As to 
tariffs — As to labor and capital — As to France — As to 
terms of peace — Industrial reorganization — Woman's 
suffrage — Munition factories — New status of labor — 
The funeral of the crew of the Zeppelin that fell at Cuffly. 

CHAPTER XXII 
GERMANY 430 

Feeling as the victim of a great conspiracy — Inter- 
views with Herr Zimmermann — Von Bethmann-Hollweg 

— Visit to Professor Eucken — Belief as to submarine 

— Certainty of success. 



CHAPTER XXIII 
TURKEY . 43 

Journey to Constantinople — ■ My interviews with the 
Grand Vizier and Talaat Bey — Comparison of Constan- 

xxii 



CONTENTS 

tinople to New Orleans — Russia and the Bosphorus — 
Germany's dream of the Orient — ■ The fate of Egypt — 
The British Empire. 



CHAPTER XXIV 
OUR SISTER FRANCE — A TRIBUTE . . . .458 

CHAPTER XXV 
THE LESSON TO OUR COUNTRY 464 

Mexico the Turkey of the Western Hemisphere — Lin- 
coln on our great possession — The foundations of the 
United States as laid by Jefferson and Monroe — Our 
dealings with the Barbary pirates — Our duty toward 
maintaining public right — Mr. Hoover's work in Bel- 
gium — Washington's words as to the law of nations. 

CHAPTER XXVI 

HEROIC VOICES . . .476 

Letters from soldiers — Anecdotes of self-sacrifice — 
The women of Europe — Edith Cavell. 



I OBSTACLES TO PEACE 

CHAPTER I 

THE WORLD AT THE END OF THE NINETEENTH 

CENTURY 

The discoveries in science, and their application, by 
organization, to the natural resources of the earth 
made a new world during the nineteenth century. It is 
difficult to overestimate the changes wrought by the 
railroad, steam, electricity, and the hundreds of other 
inventions and discoveries. Their most fateful result 
was the modification of the accidental relations of 
nations and populations to territory and access to 
the sea. 

Japan has a population of 55,000,000, and its arable 
land has an area of about 20,000 square miles. If all 
the population of the United States and Canada were 
confined to the State of Iowa, each person would have 
as much arable land as is available to each inhabitant 
of Japan. Japan has unlimited access to the sea. 

Russia is larger than North America, and it is esti- 
mated that by the end of the century it will have 
nearly half a billion inhabitants. With proper cultiva- 
tion it could produce enough food to supply the world, 
but its access to the chief markets of the world is by 
the Baltic and the Bosphorus. If the United States 
were in the same condition her people could reach the 
sea only by the St. Lawrence River and the Gulf of 

1 



OBSTACLES TO PEACE 

Mexico, with both routes liable to be closed in time 
of war. 

Germany, a trifle larger than the State of California, 
has two thirds the population of the United States. 
Her access to the sea is limited to her northwestern 
borders, and can be denied in time of war. The vital 
interests of Germany demand a military establish- 
ment sufficiently strong so that with her allies she 
can resist successfully any possible combination of 
enemies. 

The British Empire consists of the Islands of Great 
Britain and Ireland (whose population largely depends 
on sea-borne commerce; the United Kingdom would 
perish if cut off from food imports by sea) and several 
small nations, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, and 
South Africa, and numerous dependencies and colonies, 
like India and Egypt, and other possessions in Africa 
and elsewhere. No single unit composing the British 
Empire, except the United Kingdom, could successfully 
resist a powerful aggressor. Their safety depends on 
union with England, and the safety of England and 
the various component parts of the British Empire can 
last only so long as Great Britain possesses an enor- 
mous mercantile marine, and a navy that will with her 
allies absolutely protect this mercantile marine against 
any possible hostile combination of navies. 

Of all the nations in the world the United States is 
the most fortunately situated. She possesses enormous 
territory, has no dangerous neighbors, and has unlim- 
ited access to the sea. This access to the sea, combined 
with a highly organized and adequate railway system, 
enables her easily to reach the markets of the world. 
With a sufficient navy, and an army small compared 

2 



THE END OF THE NINETEENTH CENTURY 

with the armies of European countries, and a proper 
policy toward Mexico, the United States would be the 
safest nation in the world. It is a continent in area 
and an island in defensibility. 

The French Revolution is the most potent event in 
the last hundred and fifty years. It was the prime 
cause of universal military service in Europe. It intro- 
duced the idea of universal suffrage. Above all, it 
intensified the sense of nationality. 

The last half of the nineteenth century witnessed 
the creation of the Kingdom of Italy and of the Ger- 
man Empire. The creation of these two nations still 
further intensified the feeling of nationality. 

Germany has been very fortunate in a sequence of 
great statesmen, as well as in leaders in science, social 
organization, industry, and commerce. Her poets, 
philosophers, historians, composers, enriched her na- 
tional life and intensified the national feeling. All the 
world knows of the unparalleled efficiency of the social 
and industrial organization of Germany. 

The bounds of the territory of Germany were estab- 
lished and could not well be enlarged in Europe. The 
passionate sense of national self-consciousness, as well 
as need of new fields for industrial exploitation, forced 
Germany to seek "a place in the sun." This move- 
ment was backed by an enormous propaganda, which 
aroused anxiety and hostility in the neighboring states. 

An atmosphere of mutual hostility was produced 
between England and Germany on account of the 
rapid development of the German navy. The hostility 
between France and Germany was kept alive partly 
by the Alsace-Lorraine question and partly by col- 
lisions on various other questions ; and early in the 

3 



OBSTACLES TO PEACE 

present century the interests of Germany and Russia 
became more and more antagonistic on account of 
Germany's ambitions in Turkey. 

The potential causes of the war are dealt with in the 
next two chapters, which also tell of the agreement 
between Germany, France, and England. This agree- 
ment would likely have brought peace for generations 
to the nations of Europe, had it not been for the im- 
mediate cause of the war, — the assassination of the 
Crown Prince of Austria-Hungary. 

The principal effort of Germany for expansion was 
in Asiatic Turkey. This field which Germany sought 
I will describe in my next chapter. 



CHAPTER II 

ASIATIC TURKEY: THE BAGDAD RAILWAY 

However difficult the various questions involved in 
the peace settlement, — and no one can exaggerate 
the almost insoluble questions, — the real problem 
of this war is Asiatic Turkey. The settlement of this 
question may involve a continuous series of devas- 
tating wars at longer or shorter intervals for genera- 
tions. 

From an economic standpoint the control of the 
resources and of the development of Asiatic Turkey is 
a vital necessity to Germany. 

From a military standpoint the control of Asiatic 
Turkey by Germany would so shift the seats of power 
in the world as vitally to threaten the very existence 
of the British Empire. 

If there can be found no other alternative than the 
control of this territory, either by Germany and her 
allies, or by England and her allies, resulting in the 
one case in threatening the safety of the British Em- 
pire, and in the other in preventing German expan- 
sion, — wars and rumors of wars will dominate the 
twentieth century. 

Here are the facts in this problem. 

Asiatic Turkey as a field for German enterprise 
Asiatic Turkey is almost one fourth as large as the 
United States, or about the size of Mexico. While it 
contains much desert territory, it also has very fertile 

5 



OBSTACLES TO PEACE 

regions, and above all, great tracts of land that could 
be redeemed by irrigation. 

In an address before the Khedival Geographical 
Society at Cairo, Sir William Willcocks, a famous 
engineer, who had surveyed the country and planned 
great irrigation works, said of Mesopotamia: — 

We have before us the restoration of that ancient land 
whose name was a synonym for abundance, prosperity, and 
grandeur for many generations. Records as old as those of 
Egypt and as well attested tell of fertile lands and teeming 
populations, mighty kings and warriors, sages and wise men, 
over periods of thousands of years. And over and above 
everything else there is this unfailing record that the teem- 
ing wealth of this land was the goal of all Eastern conquerors 
and its possession the crown of their conquests. The Eastern 
Power which held this land in old historic days held the 
East. A land such as this is worth resuscitating. Once we 
have apprehended the true cause of its present desolate 
and abandoned condition, we are on our way to restoring it 
to its ancient fertility. A land which so readily responded 
to ancient science, and gave a return which sufficed for the 
maintenance of a Persian Court in all its splendor, will surely 
respond to the efforts of modern science and return manifold 
the money and talent spent on its regeneration. ... Of all 
the regions of the earth, no region is more favored by nature 
for the production of cereals than the lands on the Tigris. 
Indeed, I have heard our former President, Dr. Schwein- 
furth, say, in this very hall, that wheat in its wild, unculti- 
vated state has its home in these semi-arid regions and 
from here it has been transported to every quarter of the 
globe. Cotton, sugar-cane, Indian corn, and all the summer 
products of Egypt will flourish here as on the Nile, while 
Ihe winter products of cereals, leguminous plants, Egyptian 
clover, opium, and tobacco will find themselves at home as 
they did in Egypt. Of the historic gardens of Babylon and 
Bagdad it is not necessary for me to speak. A land whose 
climate allows her to produce such crops in tropical profu- 

6 



ASIATIC TURKEY 

sion, and whose snow-fed rivers permit of perennial irriga- 
tion over millions of acres, cannot be barren and desolate 
when the Bagdad Railway is traversing her fields and 
European capital is seeking there a remunerative outlet. 

Asiatic Turkey was famous in antiquity for its agri- 
cultural wealth. Agriculture was the basis of the vast 
wealth of Babylonia, Assyria, Lydia, Media, Phoenicia, 
which had occupied what is now Asiatic Turkey. 

In my interview with H. E. Ahmed Nessimi Bey, 
Minister of Agriculture, Commerce, and Mines of the 
Imperial Ottoman Empire, I made particular inquiries 
as to the agricultural and mineral wealth of Turkey. 
The replies I received were the result of several weeks 
of investigation largely by German experts. 
| Coal mines are very abundant and rich. Arganis 
copper mines are the biggest and richest in the world. 
Mesopotamia forms the richest petroleum district in 
the world. The country is extremely rich in minerals, 
including gold, silver, nickel, mercury, lead, and these 
resources are untouched. 

The undeveloped agricultural and mineral wealth 
of a country nearly one fourth as large as the United 
States would furnish to Germany a new and great 
realm and give her a place in the sun that could utilize 
her force and genius for many generations. Just as 
the mineral wealth of Alsace-Lorraine is the basis of 
Germany's industrial development, so the possession 
of Asiatic Turkey is absolutely essential for Germany's 
expansion. 

Asiatic Turkey is the land of the Bible. In a bril- 
liant study of this marvelous land in the "Nineteenth 
Century" for June, 1916, J. Ellis Barker writes as 
follows : — 

7 



OBSTACLES TO PEACE 

Mesopotamia has almost unlimited agricultural possibili- 
ties. Babylonia and Assyria were the cradle of Christian 
civilization and perhaps of mankind. Chapter II, verse 8, 
of Genesis tells us: "And the Lord God planted a garden 
eastward in Eden; and there he put the man whom he had 
formed." The word "Eden" is the Sumerian word, as 
Assyriologists have told us, for " plain." The ancient Baby- 
lonians also had a myth of a great plain in the center of 
which stood the Tree of Knowledge, and they possessed like- 
wise the story of the Flood and of the Ark. In Genesis, 
chapter n, verse 14, we read in the description of Paradise: 
"And the name of the third river is Hiddekel: that is it 
which goeth toward the east of Assyria. And the fourth 
river is Euphrates." Assyriologists tell us that the four 
rivers mentioned in the Bible were the Euphrates and 
Tigris, and two of the huge artificial canals which the 
ancients had constructed. In chapter x of Genesis we are 
made acquainted with Nimrod, Babel, Erech, Accad, Cal- 
neh, Nineveh, and other Babylonian names. Ur, onHhe 
Euphrates near Babylon, was the birthplace of Abraham. 
The ancient Jews placed their Paradise in Eden because 
Eden, the Mesopotamian plain, was then the garden of the 
world. Herodotus, who had visited Mesopotamia and the 
town of Babylon, and who wrote about the year 450 B.C., 
has told us — the translation is Rawlinson's: "The whole 
of Babylonia is, like Egypt, intersected with canals. The 
largest of them all, which runs towards the winter sun, and 
is impassable except in boats, is carried from the Euphrates 
into another stream, called the Tigris, the river upon which 
the town of Nineveh formerly stood. Of all the countries 
that we know, there is none which is so fruitful in grain. It 
makes no pretension, indeed, of growing the fig, the olive, 
the vine, or any other tree of the kind, but in grain it is so 
fruitful as to yield commonly two hundredfold. The blade 
of the wheat plant and barley plant is often four fingers in 
breadth. As for the millet and the sesame, I shall not say 
to what height they grow, though within my own know- 
ledge, for I am not ignorant that what I have already written 
concerning the fruitfulness of Babylonia must seem incred- 



ASIATIC TURKEY 

ible to those who have never visited the country. The whole 
country under the domination of the Persians, besides pay- 
ing a fixed tribute, is parceled out into divisions to supply 
food to the Great King and his army. Now, out of the 
twelve months of the year, the district of Babylon furnished 
food during four; the other regions of Asia during eight; by 
which it appears that Assyria, in respect of resources, is one 
third the whole of Asia." 

Apparently Mesopotamia was at the time almost twice 
as wealthy as Egypt. According to the ancient writers, the 
fruitfulness of Babylonia exceeded that of Egypt. Assyria 
and Babylonia were the wealthiest countries of antiquity, 
and Mesopotamia was the richest part of the great Persian 
Empire. Persia's wealth was chiefly Babylonian wealth. 
In the Middle Ages, Bagdad arose among the Babylonian 
ruins, and between the tenth and eleventh centuries it had 
2,000,000 inhabitants, 60,000 baths, 80,000 bazaars, etc. 
It was the capital of the gigantic Arab Empire, the wealth 
of which was founded upon the flourishing agriculture of the 
Babylonian plain. 

In olden times Babylonia was perfectly irrigated. 
Under the Turks, the wonderful system of canals fell 
into neglect. The Babylonian plain became partly 
a desert and partly a swamp. Mesopotamia, which, 
in olden times, was the most densely populated part 
of the world, is at present the most sparsely peopled 
part "of the Turkish Empire. All Mesopotamia has 
at present only two million inhabitants, or fourteen 
people per square mile, and it could support thirty 
million people. 

European diplomacy for ten years and the chief 
causes of this war have to do with the questions in- 
volved in Asiatic Turkey. Asiatic Turkey is a natural, 
almost uninvadable fortress, but a fortress that is self- 
sustaining as to food and military supplies. While 

9 



OBSTACLES TO PEACE 

Asiatic Turkey has the natural resources to support 
an enormous population, and while its relation be- 
tween the three continents, Europe, Asia, and Africa, 
gives it a strategic position that cannot be overrated, 
it must be understood that in itself it is very easily 
defended. Its land frontiers are protected by vast 
waterless deserts or lofty mountain ranges. Its water 
frontiers, the Black Sea, the Mediterranean, the Red 
Sea, the Persian Gulf, complete its boundaries, so as 
to give it the advantage of being an island. 

It is the seat of power to control the Mohammedan 
world. Whatever may be in the minds of the states- 
men of Europe, it may safely be said that all other 
questions involved in the great war are minor com- 
pared to the future of Asiatic Turkey. 

Quite recently both Mr. Asquith and Mr. Sazonov 
have stated definitely that Russia and England have 
agreed as to all the questions involved in the Near 
East, including their respective intentions as to 
Asiatic Turkey. 

In the "Nineteenth Century" for June, 1916, Ellis 
Barker continues : — 

Asiatic Turkey is a natural fortress which possesses vast 
possibilities for attack, for it borders upon some of the most 
valuable and most vulnerable positions in the world, and it 
is able to dominate them and to seize them by a surprise 
attack. In the north it can threaten the rich Caucasian 
provinces of Russia and their oil fields, with Tiflis, Batum, 
Baku. From its six hundred miles of Black Sea coast it 
can attack the rich Russian Black Sea provinces, with 
the Crimea, Odessa, Nikolaeff, and Kherson. It can easily 
strike across the narrow Bosphorus at Constantinople. 
Toward the west of Asia Minor, and in easy reach of it, lie 
the beautiful Greek and Italian islands in the iEgean, 

10 



ASIATIC TURKEY 

which until recently belonged to Turkey, and lies Greece 
itself, which for centuries was a Turkish possession. West 
of Turkish Syria lie the Suez Canal, Egypt, Erythea, and 
the Italian and French colonies of North Africa. 

A powerful Asiatic Turkey can obviously dominate not 
only the Bosphorus, the Dardanelles, and the Suez Canal, 
but the very narrow entrance of the Red Sea near Aden, 
and that of the Persian Gulf near Muscat, as well. It must 
also not be forgotten that only a comparatively short dis- 
tance, a stretch of country under the nominal rule of weak 
and decadent Persia, separates Asiatic Turkey from the 
Indian frontier. It is clear that Asiatic Turkey, lying in the 
center of the old world, is at the same time a natural for- 
tress of the greatest defensive strength and an ideal base 
for a surprise attack upon southern Russia, Constantinople, 
the iEgean Islands, Greece, the Suez Canal, Egypt, Persia, 
Afghanistan, and India. 

Asiatic Turkey is economically very important, not only 
because it is possible to increase enormously its stunted 
power of production, but also because, with the building of 
railways, an enormous passenger and goods traffic may be 
developed on the direct line which connects Central Europe 
with India and China via Asia Minor. The intercourse be- 
tween East and West is rapidly increasing. The Suez Canal 
traffic came in 1870 to 436,609 tons net. In 1876 it came to 
2,096,771 tons, in 1882 to 5,074,808 tons, in 1901 to 10,823,- 
840, and in 1912 to 20,275,120 tons net. The geographical 
position of Asia Minor on the shortest trade route connect- 
ing the East with the West, which gave wealth to Phoenicia, 
and which made Sidon and Tyre the merchants of the an- 
cient world and the founders of a far-flung sea-empire, may 
greatly enrich its inhabitants. 

What a fundamental change in the strategical 
position of this region might imply for Great Britain 
was well expressed by so eminent and impartial an 
authority as A. T. Mahan, when he said, in his 
"Retrospect and Prospect " (1902): — 

11 



OBSTACLES TO PEACE 

The control of the Persian Gulf by a foreign state of con- 
siderable naval potentiality, a "fleet in being" there, based 
upon a strong military port, would reproduce the relations 
of Cadiz, Gibraltar, and Malta to the Mediterranean. It 
would flank all the routes to the Farther East, to India and 
to Australia, the last two actually internal to the Empire, 
regarded as a political system; and, although at present 
Great Britain unquestionably could check such a fleet, it 
might well require a detachment large enough to affect seri- 
ously the general strength of her naval position. . . . Con- 
cessions in the Persian Gulf, whether by positive formal 
arrangement, or by simple neglect of the local commercial 
interests which now underlie political and military control, 
will imperil Great Britain's naval situation in the Farther 
East, her political position in India, her commercial interests 
in both, and the Imperial tie between herself and Australia. 

The "Times Current History" (vol. vi, p. 731) re- 
prints a short article by Dr. Paul Rohrbach, entitled 
"On the Road to India." Dr. Rohrbach says in part: 

By getting control of Egypt, England, on the one hand, 
greatly strengthened her position as a world-power, but, on 
the other hand, she made herself vulnerable on land. It was 
supposed before that England's weak spot, her tendon of 
Achilles, was India. But after she proved during the Boer 
War that she could transport an army of hundreds of thou- 
sands of men over great distances by sea, and keep them 
supplied, the probability waned of a Russian attack on 
India. Russia could hardly transport over the difficult 
mountain roads of the Pamirs and Afghanistan the number 
of men required for overrunning India, even if she had at 
the outset the sympathies of a part of the natives. 

But it is otherwise with Egypt. From the earliest days to 
which we can go back in history, the rulers of Egypt, from 
the first of the Pharaohs, have, on account of the geographical 
peculiarities of the frontier between Asia and Africa, always 
tried to strengthen their hold on their dominions by getting 
control of the territories lying on the other side of the 

12 



ASIATIC TURKEY 

Isthmus of Suez — Palestine and Syria. And strong Asiatic 
empires, for their part, who numbered Syria among their 
provinces, have coveted Egypt. As soon as England ac- 
quired Egypt it was incumbent upon her to guard against 
any menace from Asia. Such a danger apparently arose 
when Turkey, weakened by her last war with Russia and 
by difficult conditions at home, began to turn to Germany 
for support. 

And now war has come and England is reaping the crops 
which she has sown. England, not we, desired this war. 
She knows this, despite all her hypocritical talk, and she 
fears that, as soon as connection is established along the 
Berlin-Vienna-Budapest-Sofia-Constantinople line, the fate 
of Egypt may be decided. Through the Suez Canal goes the 
route to all the lands surrounding the Indian Ocean, and, 
by way of Singapore, to the western shores of the Pacific. 
These two worlds together have about 900,000,000 inhab- 
itants, more than half the population of the universe, and 
India lies in a controlling position in their midst. Should 
England lose the Suez Canal, she will be obliged, unlike the 
powers in control of that waterway, to use the long route 
around the Cape of Good Hope and depend on the good-will 
of the South African Boers. The majority among the latter 
have not the same views as Botha. 

The Socialist "Leipziger Volkszeitung" declared 
in March, 1911, that "the new situation shortly to 
be created in Asia Minor would hasten the break-up 
of the British Empire, which was already beginning 
to totter." 

In "Die Neue Zeit" for June 2, 1911, Herr Karl 
Radek said : — 

The strengthening of German Imperialism, the first suc- 
cess of which, attained with so much effort, is the Bagdad 
Railway; the victory of the revolutionary party in Turkey; 
the prospect of a modern revolutionary movement in India, 
which, of course, must be regarded as a very different thing 

13 



OBSTACLES TO PEACE 

from the earlier scattered risings of industrial tribes; the 
movement toward nationalization in Egypt; the beginning 
of reform in Egypt; — all this has raised to an extraordin- 
ary degree the political significance of the Bagdad Railway 
question. 

The Bagdad Railway being a blow at the interests of 
English Imperialism, Turkey could entrust its construc- 
tion only to the German company, because she knew that 
Germany's army and navy stood behind her, which fact 
makes it appear to England and Russia inadvisable to exert 
too sensitive a pressure upon Turkey. 

In the "Akademische Blatter" of June 1, 1911, Pro- 
fessor R. Mangelsdorf, another recognized authority 
on German policy and politics, wrote : — 

The political and military power an organized railway 
system will confer upon Turkey is altogether in the interest 
of Germany, which can obtain a share in actual economic 
developments only if Turkey is independent; and, besides, 
any attempt to increase the power and ambition of Eng- 
land, in any case oppressively great, is thereby effectively 
thwarted. To some extent, indeed, Turkey's construction of 
a railway system is a threat to England, for it means that 
an attack on the most vulnerable part of the body of Eng- 
land's world-empire, namely, Egypt, comes well within the 
bounds of possibility. 

Professor Charles Seymour, of Yale University, in 
his accurate and comprehensive book, "The Diplo- 
matic Background of the War," says: — 

The Bagdad Railway was designed so as to connect Haldar 
Pasha, one of the Asiatic suburbs of Constantinople, with 
one of the harbors conceded to Germany on the Persian 
Gulf. 

The railway was to follow the route of Cyrus and the Ten 
Thousand in the " Anabasis," over the Taurus and down into 
the plains of Mesopotamia. Two branch railways of the 

14 



ASIATIC TURKEY 

utmost importance were secured by the German company: 
the one was the most direct trade route to Smyrna; the other 
gave connection with the port of Alexandretta. Further- 
more, the Germans later obtained the concession of the line 
planned to run between Aleppo, Damascus, and Mecca, the 
route which would naturally be taken by all Moslem pil- 
grims. Even the Holy Land will radiate from Mecca to 
Constantinople, and from Smyrna to the Persian Gulf. 
One terminus will be within twelve hours of Egypt, another 
terminus will be within four days of Bombay. 

The constitution of the Bagdad Railway Company may 
be said to be an event of the first importance in the history 
of European diplomacy. It was the first step in Germany's 
southeastern policy which was designed to win for German 
traders complete economic control over the Turkish do- 
minions and ultimately, possibly, a political protectorate; 
Germany was to " add to her sway the ancient empire of 
Semiramis and Nebuchadnezzar, of Cyrus and Haroun 
al Raschid." Asia Minor and Mesopotamia are districts 
which have been among the most prosperous and productive 
in the whole world. 

If Germany was to carry her Mesopotamian and Turkish 
policy to success, another aspect of the Near Eastern ques- 
tion concerned her very closely, namely, the position of the 
independent Balkan States. Should those nations become 
powerful and diplomatically autonomous the security of the 
path from Germany to Constantinople would be threatened. 
They must, therefore, be subjected to the domination of 
Germany, or better still, to that of Germany's ally, Austria; 
for Austria has always had greater success than Germany in 
dealing with the Slavs. In no event could the Slavs be al- 
lowed to control the Balkans, lest Germany's communica- 
tions with Asia Minor be cut. Thus, a regenerated Turkey 
must guard the Straits while Austria dominated the Balkans. 
With her ally, Austria, supreme on the Danube, and her 
friend, Turkey, in control of the Dardanelles, Germany 
might reasonably hope to be master of a sweep of territory 
extending from the North Sea to the Persian Gulf. She 
would cut Russia from her Mediterranean trade, hold the 

15 



OBSTACLES TO PEACE 

shortest route to the East, and threaten the position of 
the British in Egypt and India. 

Asiatic Turkey dominates the three continents of 
the Eastern Hemisphere where live ninety per cent of 
the human race. In control of its resources, economic 
and military, Germany would become the dominating 
world-power. It is the center of the Mohammedan 
world, and Pan-Islamism, supported by Germany, 
would get a new lease of life. 

The Turks have gifts neither for government nor for 
industrial organization; Turkey can exist only as a 
vassal ally of some other power. Some other power, or 
powers, will inevitably dominate and develop this 
most valuable region, valuable largely because the 
control of Asiatic Turkey means a long step toward 
world-power. Germany and Turkey are at present in 
close economic and military alliance. 

Of especial interest, therefore, was my interview 
with Talaat Bey, the dictator of Turkey. He impressed 
me as a man of absolute force, of tremendous energy 
and executive ability. The picture of Turkey and 
Islamism as seen to-day by the Turks never before 
has seemed so promising. Turkey is no longer the 
Sick Man of Europe, but a people young, energetic, 
ambitious. This impression I received from Talaat 
Bey. 

After two long interviews with this distinguished 
man, I submitted to him, in writing, a series of ques- 
tions. These questions were answered after careful 
cooperation with the heads of the Turkish Govern- 
ment, aided by experts. The document thus prepared 
was sent to the Turkish Embassy in Berlin, thence to 
the German Foreign Office, and after several days' 

16 



ASIATIC TURKEY 

deliberation was finally given to me intact, in writing, 
in English, just as it had left the hands of Talaat Bey. 
Its statements were as follows : — 

Knowing that railways are the basis of all kinds of eco- 
nomic, industrial, commercial, as well as agricultural pro- 
gress, and seeing that our present railways are not sufficient 
for our military and commercial purposes, we intend to build 
a complete network of railways over all parts of the coun- 
try. All big cities will be joined to the different seaports. 
Thus our mineral, agricultural, and industrial products will 
have an easy exit to the outer world. Up till now railway 
concessions have been used by certain powers as political 
weapons against independence. Now we are fighting for a 
complete independence and for national existence; and, 
wishing to be masters of our domain, we intend to buy all 
railways as soon as opportunities arise. 

Egypt is an autonomous vilayet of the Ottoman empire; 
Egypt will have all the rights bestowed on her of self-govern- 
ment with a constitution. It will be the same to our empire 
as Hungary to Austria. 

Tripoli was a part of our empire which was captured in a 
pirate manner by Italy. Italy having not handed over our 
islands on one side and declaring war on the other side, we 
count our treaty with her as nil and will make Tripoli an- 
other Egypt under the rule of Sheikh Senussi. 

Tunis shall also be made like Egypt or Tripoli. 

Algiers, Morocco, and Sahara being Moslem land, we 
want to free them from the foreign yoke if it shall be possi- 
ble; otherwise, we will do our best to insure their national, 
social, and religious rights, and by so doing lessen their 
sufferings. 

Persia being a sister country and natural ally of Turkey, 
we wish to see her independent, strong, prosperous, and pro- 
gressive. We will help her by all possible means and do our 
best to protect her rights and integrity. 

India being an eastern country and having more than 
80,000,000 of Moslems, we wish to see her independent, 
prosperous, regaining her old glories. We are doing our best 

17 



OBSTACLES TO PEACE 

to insure to this country all national, religious, political 
freedom and aspiration. 

We want to put our empire on the same footing as any 
other European power in regard to military, educational, 
industrial, and, more than anything else, moral progress. 

The progress of Islam in Africa is a natural phenomenon, 
showing the vitality of Islam. It is done without any mis- 
sionary effort. It emancipates the ignorant people from the 
darkness of brutality to civilization. Our Sheik-ul-Islam will 
be doing humanity a great good and a great service to Islam 
if he will form a missionary body to propagandize Islam in 
Africa and turn the heathen into true believers. 

These were no empty words; they expressed the 
assured policy of Turkey, strengthened by her eco- 
nomic and military alliance with Germany and her 
allies. 

The interests of Russia in regard to the Bosphorus 
and Asia Minor are antagonistic to those of Germany 
and Turkey. Germany's splendid dream of an Eastern 
Empire demands the control of the route from Berlin, 
through Constantinople to Basra. With the develop- 
ment of the wheat-fields in the Black Sea region it is a 
vital necessity for Russia to control Constantinople 
and the Bosphorus. I asked Professor Rohrbach, who 
is the great authority on matters involving Russia and 
Germany, how it would be possible to safeguard 
Russia's interests with Germany in control of the 
Bosphorus. He replied very clearly that the interests 
of Germany and Russia were so opposed to each other 
that it was impossible to meet the needs of both, and 
that inasmuch as German civilization was superior to 
Russian civilization Russia's interests must be sacri- 
ficed, rather than Germany's. 

In his book on "The Bagdad Railway" (Berlin, 

18 



ASIATIC TURKEY 

1911), Professor Rohrbach summarized its military 
and political possibilities as follows : — 

A direct attack upon England across the North Sea is 
out of the question; the prospect of a German invasion of 
England is a fantastic dream. It is necessary to discover 
another combination in order to hit England in a vulnerable 
spot — and here we come to the point where the relationship of 
Germany to Turkey, and the conditions prevailing in Turkey, 
become of decisive importance for German foreign policy, based 
as it now is upon watchfulness in the direction of England. . . . 
England can be attacked and mortally wounded by land 
from Europe only in one place, — Egypt. The loss of Egypt 
would mean for England not only the end of her dominion 
over the Suez Canal and of her connections with India and 
the Far East, but would probably entail the loss also of her 
possessions in Central and East Africa. The conquest of 
Egypt by a Mohammedan power like Turkey would also 
imperil England's hold over her sixty million Mohammedan 
subjects in India, besides prejudicing her relations with 
Afghanistan and Persia. Turkey, however, can never dream 
of recovering Egypt until she is mistress of a developed 
railway system in Asia Minor and Syria, and until, through 
the progress of the Anatolian Railway to Bagdad, she is in 
a position to withstand an attack by England upon Meso- 
potamia. . . . The stronger Turkey grows, the more danger- 
ous does she become for England. . . . Egypt is a prize 
which for Turkey would be well worth the risk of taking 
sides with Germany in a war with England. The policy of 
protecting Turkey, which is now pursued by Germany, has no 
other object but the desire to effect an insurance against the 
danger of a war with England. 

Now, with the exception of one or two breaks, which 
will soon be finished, there is a direct connection from 
Berlin, through Constantinople, by rail, almost to the 
Suez Canal and to Bagdad. 

In his new edition of "Imperial Germany" Prince 

19 



OBSTACLES TO PEACE 

von Bulow, ex-Chancellor of the German Empire, 
says : — 

The Bagdad Railway scheme was a result of the Emperor's 
journey to Palestine in 1898, a very few months after the 
first Navy Bill was passed, and this was in every respect 
successful. It threw open to German influence and German 
enterprise a field of activity between the Mediterranean Sea 
and the Persian Gulf, on the rivers Euphrates and Tigris, 
and along their banks, which can hardly be surpassed for 
fertility and for its great possibilities of development in the 
future. The Bagdad Railway has already proved to be of 
military value, for it enabled Turkey to send reinforcements 
to Mesopotamia in time to stop the English on their march 
to Bagdad, and to inflict sensible defeats upon them. After 
eighteen months the English have not yet succeeded in 
entering Bagdad. "Ce ne sont pas seulement les forces 
turques operant en Mesopotamie qui se ravitaillent par cette 
voie," was the plaint of the " Temps" after the first English 
reverse at Kut-el-Amara; "mais toute action turco-alle- 
mande en Perse repose sur cette communication, qui relie 
Constantinople a Ispahan." The Bagdad Railway also 
restores the route by which trade from Europe to India and 
from India to Europe once passed. By means of a rational 
irrigation of the districts through which it passes, this terri- 
tory can once more be made the paradise it was in ancient 
times. If one can speak of boundless prospects anywhere, 
it is in Mesopotamia, not only on account of the Mesopo- 
tamian oil-fields, which for the most part lie near the 
Bagdad Railway, but in every respect. 

One of the most curious things about German liter- 
ature of the last ten or fifteen years is the frank revela- 
tion of policies calculated to alarm other nations. Thus 
several military writers of high authority mentioned 
the plan of invading France by way of Belgium. I 
quote a very suggestive statement by Count Revent- 

20 



ASIATIC TURKEY 

low, who in "Deutschlands Auswartige Politik" (3d 
edition, p. 340) says: — 

It had an unfavorable effect, and created difficulties, that 
in Germany itself the object and the importance of the 
Bagdad Railway was proclaimed to the world to some extent 
in an incorrect and a very exaggerated manner. As early as 
the beginning of the new century people talked openly, 
with a triumph which far anticipated events, of the railway 
which would threaten India and render possible a Turkish 
invasion of Egypt. A German war station would arise on 
the Persian Gulf, and the superfluous German population 
would be settled in Mesopotamia. In this direction we 
have made great mistakes through ill-advised methods of 
propaganda. The more quietly the Bagdad Railway was 
built the better. It was certainly true that it would be 
possible, after the network of railways had been completed, 
to make of Turkey a dangerous menace against Egypt and 
India; but that sort of thing ought not to have been said so 
long as Great Britain still was in a position to hinder and to 
delay the building of the railway. 

Just as the enormous physical resources of the 
United States plus the inventions of the nineteenth 
century rendered possible such hitherto unimagined 
corporations as the Standard Oil Company, the 
United States Steel Corporation, and further rendered 
it possible for a comparatively small group of men to 
dominate the world of finance and industry, so these 
same inventions plus the enormous natural resources 
of the Eastern Hemisphere bring within the sphere of 
practical politics colossal combinations of nations un- 
dreamed of fifty years ago. The German dream of 
world-dominance would be largely realized by an alli- 
ance of the powers from the North Sea to the Persian 
Gulf (including also Salonika). Germany leads the 

21 



OBSTACLES TO PEACE 

world in agriculture. East of Austria agriculture is 
primitive. Therefore, in land cultivation, as well as in 
the application of modern science and methods to 
other natural resources, there are the greatest imagin- 
able possibilities for development. As the world existed 
in 1914 there was nothing impossible in this dream of 
world-dominion. 

Germany's Turkish policy during the last ten years 
before the war had changed the face of European diplo- 
macy. I will study this matter in my next chapter. 



CHAPTER III 

TURKEY AND ANGLO-GERMAN RELATIONS FROM 
THE BOER WAR TO THE EUROPEAN WAR 

1899-1914 

The years from 1899 to 1914 witnessed a greater revo- 
lution in the diplomatic relations of the great powers 
of Europe than any other period in modern history. 
The main causes of this change were the interests of 
England, Germany, and Russia in Asiatic Turkey. 

At the opening of the twentieth century the rela- 
tions between England and France and England and 
Russia were unsettled and troublous. The relations 
between England and Germany during the nineteenth 
century were mainly friendly. Up to 1914 it was true 
that England and Germany were probably the only 
two great European powers who had never shed a drop 
of each other's blood. 

Joseph Chamberlain in a public speech had suggested 
an alliance between England, the United States, and 
Germany. In an address in the Guildhall in 1899, 
Lord Salisbury said : — 

? This morning you have learned of the arrangement con- 
cluded between us and one of the Continental States, with 
whom more than with others we have for years maintained 
sympathetic and friendly relations. The arrangement is 
above all interesting as an indication that our relations with 
the German nation are all that we could desire. 

In 1898 England and France were on the verge of 
war over the Fashoda affair. In that year, after four- 

23 



OBSTACLES TO PEACE 

teen years of preparation, Kitchener had reconquered 
the Soudan which had been overrun and devastated 
by the Mahdi. When he reached Fashoda, on the 
Upper Nile, he found Lieutenant Marchand with a 
French expedition in possession. If France had con- 
firmed her conquest of the Upper Nile, it would have 
been a serious disaster to England's African enterprise. 
This caused a dangerous crisis that brought France 
and England to the verge of war. 

France was very bitter after diplomacy had decided 
in Great Britain's favor, and during the Boer War 
(which began October, 1899) there was in France a 
press campaign directed against Great Britain as bitter 
as any in the belligerent press of to-day. The press in 
Germany was almost as bitter as the French press. 
England was amazed and appalled at the hostility 
of public opinion expressed by the newspapers in 
nearly all countries, including the United States. 

As one result of the situation produced by the Boer 
War, England made an alliance with Japan, January 
30, 1902. This was to safeguard her imperial interests 
in the East. 

The South African problems were settled in such a 
fashion as to make the Union of South Africa one of 
the most loyal of the self-governing nations of the 
British Empire. 

In 1904 England and France composed their differ- 
ences, — largely colonial. The main provisions of this 
treaty of April 30, 1904, dealt with Egypt and Morocco. 
France withdrew her opposition to England's occupa- 
tion of Egypt, and England withdrew her opposing 
claims to Morocco. 

But while this treaty led to a friendship that was 

24 



ANGLO-GERMAN RELATIONS, 1899-1914 

almost an alliance between England and France, it 
caused great hostility between England and Germany. 
Count Reventlow, in his last book, "The Vampire 
of the Continent," gives Germany's feeling in these 
words : — 

The understanding between France and England was an 
event of the highest importance in the history of the world. 

The convention of 1904 put an end, once and for all, to all 
the colonial quarrels between England and France. The 
work of liquidation, begun in 1899, was finished five years 
later. Bismarck had understood, by a skillful handling of 
African colonial problems, how to prevent a, rapprochement 
between the two Western Powers; especially had he under- 
stood the art of keeping the Egyptian question — that chief 
bone of contention — alive. Fourteen years after Bismarck's 
departure, the last seeds of dissension sowed by this policy 
of his were dug up and destroyed. 

I will now trace another cause of the divergence of 
English and German interests. 

"Germany's Asiatic dream 

Bismarck's mind was filled with his life-work. He 
had organized the German Empire; he had nationalized 
the railways. Besides taking from France territory 
which quadrupled the iron-ore production of Germany, 
he had taken one billion dollars in cash. He had little 
interest in the Balkans or the East. His great achieve- 
ment had exhausted or fulfilled his passion for aggran- 
dizement. 

The present Emperor brought a fresh and vigorous 
mind to Germany's needs and growth. Within a year 
and a half of his accession to the Imperial throne, he 
paid his first visit to a European capital and to a 

25 



OBSTACLES TO PEACE 

European sovereign. The capital was Constantinople; 
the sovereign was Abdul Hamid. 

Nine years later, in 1898, the German Emperor 
made his second visit to Constantinople, a voyage 
which included Palestine and visits to Jerusalem and 
Damascus. One result of these visits was the securing 
of concessions that led to the Bagdad Railway. 

The German Emperor had the vision of Alexander 
and Napoleon. He was to found a great empire in the 
East. Marschall von Bieberstein, the ablest diplomat 
not only of Germany but of Europe, represented Ger- 
many in Turkey. Germany became the dominating 
European power in Turkey. The foundations for a 
great Eastern Empire were well and successfully laid 
by Germany. 

England's treaty with France aroused Germany, 
who saw her interests in Morocco menaced and above 
all her prestige in the Mohammedan world. This led 
to the German Emperor's voyage to Tangier in 1905. 
The effect of Russia's defeat at the hands of Japan was 
now felt in the west of Europe. France's great Eastern 
ally was out of the ring indefinitely. 

The importance of the Emperor's voyage in relation 
to Asiatic Turkey is clearly explained by Prince von 
Biilow, as follows : — 

In November, 1898, the Emperor William II had said in 
Damascus: "The three hundred million Mohammedans who 
live scattered over the globe may be assured of this, that the 
German Emperor will be their friend at all times." In 
Tangier the Emperor had declared emphatically in favor 
of the integrity of Morocco. We should have completely 
destroyed our credit in the Mohammedan world, if so soon 
after these declarations we had sold Morocco to the French. 
Our Ambassador in Constantinople, Freiherr von Marschall, 

26 



ANGLO-GERMAN RELATIONS, 18991914 

said to me at the time: "If we sacrifice Morocco in spite of 
Damascus and Tangier, we shall at one fell swoop lose our 
position in Turkey and therefore all advantages and pros- 
pects that we have painfully acquired by the labor of many 
years." 

As I have shown, the advantages and prospects in 
Asiatic Turkey were regarded as utterly vital to Ger- 
many. 

Germany had dreams also of a great African Empire, 
but her chief preoccupation was Asiatic Turkey, and 
the voyage of Emperor Wilhelm II to Morocco, which 
to many seemed spectacular, was, as Von Biilow ex- 
plains, largely in behalf of Germany's Asiatic projects. 

The result of this voyage to Morocco was the Alge- 
ciras Conference of 1906, the outcome of which is de- 
scribed somewhat bitterly by Count Reventlow in his 
new book, "The Vampire of the Continent": — 

All the demands of the German representatives at the 
Algeciras Conference were rejected, and not a single Power 
was to be found to back up Germany energetically. Ger- 
many's isolation was so complete that she was thankful to 
Austria-Hungary when the latter's representatives declared 
themselves ready, in one particularly knotty question, to 
build a bridge over which the Germans could effect an honor- 
able retreat. The Algeciras Act, a very voluminous docu- 
ment, was from beginning to end a complete farce. 

The Italians were also to be found at Algeciras among 
Germany's adversaries; the same was the case with nearly 
all the smaller European States, and with the United States 
of America. This was a phenomenon, the importance of 
which completely overshadowed that of the Moroccan ques- 
tion taken by itself. With extraordinary skill, rapidity, and 
energy, England's statesmen had understood how suddenly 
to represent the German Empire as the disturber of Euro- 
pean peace, as a danger to France, and as jealous of Great 
Britain. 

27 



OBSTACLES TO PEACE 

Professor Seymour summarizes the results of the 
Algeciras Conference in these words : — 

On none of the crucial issues discussed during the Confer- 
ence of Algeciras did Germany receive the support of the 
other Powers. . . . 

And by a curious irony, Germany in demanding the Con- 
ference of Algeciras had brought English and Russian repre- 
sentatives together upon a common ground, and thus paved 
the way for the Anglo-Russian accord. 

This leads us to the Anglo-Russian treaty of 1907. 

In a sense Russia touches the interests of nearly all 
nations in Europe and Asia. Russia impends over 
Sweden, Germany, Austria-Hungary, the Balkans, 
Constantinople and the Bosphorus, Asia Minor, and 
the Persian Gulf, Afghanistan, Persia, India, China, 
and Japan. England's foreign policy for a century has 
been largely determined by India. And she feared 
Russian aggression against India. 

On August 31, 1907, a treaty between England and 
Russia was signed which removed their rivalries in 
regard to the long-pending question involving their 
mutual interests in Afghanistan, Persia, Thibet, and 
brought about an entente. 

The Bosnian Crisis or 1908 

We now come to the so-called Bosnian crisis of 
1908. 

By the famous Treaty of Berlin of 1878, Bosnia and 
Herzegovina, while remaining provinces of the Turkish 
Empire, were occupied and administered by Austria- 
Hungary. The change in the Balkans by the success 
of the Young Turks is thus described by Professor 
Seymour : — 

28 



ANGLO-GERMAN RELATIONS, 1899-1914 

In 1908 came the Young Turk Revolution, which led Aus- 
tria to a fateful step. The Young Turks aimed above every- 
thing at a regeneration of their country's foreign policy and 
especially at a strengthening of Turkish power in the Bal- 
kans. Austria and Germany favored a strong government at 
Constantinople, since Turkey was guarding the Dardanelles 
in their interests. But a Turkey predominant in the whole 
Balkan Peninsula was undesirable, for it would threaten 
Austria's road to the Adriatic and iEgean. Furthermore, 
it seemed likely that the Young Turks would not hesitate 
to demand the termination of Austrian administration in 
Bosnia and Herzegovina; the provinces legally belonged to 
Turkey, and if the new Government should prove its capac- 
ity, the Porte would have every right again to assume 
direct administration over them. 

Austria-Hungary annexed the two provinces. This 
interfered with the ambitions of Servia; it also strength- 
ened the influence of Germany and Austria in the Bal- 
kans, and to that extent interfered with the influence 
of Russia in the Balkans. Whichever group of nations 
controls the Balkans has the dominance in Turkey. 

Further, it was a direct breach of a treaty made by 
all Europe. The effect of this treaty violation was far- 
reaching. Russia protested vigorously, but not yet 
having recovered from the military disasters of her 
war with Japan, she could not enforce her demands, 
although strongly supported by France and England. 
This was the first conflict between the Triple Alliance 
and the Triple Entente. Germany's position is clearly 
told by Prince von Biilow in his book, "Imperial 
Germany " : — 

The final annexation by Austria-Hungary of the Provinces 
of Bosnia and Herzegovina, which, in accordance with the 
decisions of the Berlin Congress, Austria had occupied since 
1878, led to a great European crisis. . . . 

29 



OBSTACLES TO PEACE 

In my speeches in the Reichstag I made it quite clear that 
Germany was resolved to preserve her alliance with Austria 
at any cost. The German sword had been thrown into the 
scale of European decision, directly in support of our Austro- 
Hungarian ally, indirectly for the preservation of European 
peace, and above all for the sake of German credit and the 
maintenance of our position in the world. 

Lord Redesdale, in his recently published memoirs, 
speaks of the effect on King Edward. Lord Redesdale 
happened to be at Balmoral when the news of the 
Austrian annexations in the Balkans reached the King. 
"No one who was there can forget," he said, "how ter- 
ribly he was upset. Never did I see him so moved. . . . 
Every word that he uttered that day has come true." 

There is a great similarity between the Bosnian 
crisis of 1908 and the Servian crisis of 1914 which 
caused the war. It seems to me that Austria-Hungary 
expected the crisis of 1914 to take the course of the 
Bosnian crisis of 1908. 

E. J. Dillon, chief correspondent of the London 
"Telegraph," tells of the views of San Giuliano, For- 
eign Minister of Italy in the Servian crisis in 1914: — 

He virtually said to his two foreign colleagues: "Your 
policy takes account of two alternatives and does not cover 
the whole ground of eventualities. You fancy that you may 
succeed in imposing your will on Servia to-day as you did 
during the Bosnian crisis, and that if you fail in this the worst 
that can happen is that Russia will take Servia's part and 
you will have only those to deal with. In the former case 
you will have exalted your horn greatly and won a brilliant 
diplomatic success; in the latter you will gather military 
laurels with ease and certainty. Pray let me assure you that 
you are making a miscalculation. Your reading of the inter- 
national situation, which has changed fundamentally during 
these few years, is erroneous. The Entente Powers are no 

30 



ANGLO-GERMAN RELATIONS, 1899-1914 

longer in the mood to brook arbitrary acts and they will 
oppose you resolutely. Russia will certainly take Servia's 
part, and, what is more to the point, France will stand by 
Russia. And if France is involved in the war Britain will not 
leave her in the lurch." 

In 1909, King Edward VII visited Berlin. I can 
give no higher authority as to the German idea of this 
visit, its purposes and effects, than by quoting the 
words of Prince von Biilow, then German Chancellor. 
He said : — 

In the winter of 1909, immediately after the Bosnian 
crisis had taken a decisive turn, King Edward VII paid a 
visit to the German Emperor and Empress in Berlin. This 
visit passed off in a satisfactory manner, and the King had a 
hearty reception. He, for his part, succeeded in emphasizing 
the favorable impression made by his visit, by repeatedly 
giving expression to his sincere love of peace and his warm 
friendship, sentiments which found corroboration soon after 
in the Speech from the Throne and the Debate on the 
Address in the English Parliament. This last visit of King 
Edward VII aroused good hope for the future and shed a 
pleasant light, not only on the personal relations of the King 
with Germany, but also on those between two great nations 
who have every reason to respect one another, and to vie 
with each other amicably in the work of peace. Reactions 
might, of course, set in. In point of fact they did. Indeed, 
the reaction in the summer of 1911 was somewhat violent. 
But the attempt to extend the opposition between England 
and Germany into a system of combined international pol- 
icy, will hardly be repeated, and, if it should be, it will once 
more be foiled by the hard facts of Continental politics, of 
which the very hardest is the Triple Alliance. 

Prince von Biilow refers to the Agadir incident of 
1911 when the Panther, a small gunboat, suddenly ap- 
peared on the west coast of Morocco, at the port of 

31 



OBSTACLES TO PEACE 

Agadir. This reopened the Morocco question. Eng- 
land at this time strongly supported France, and 
Lloyd George, in a speech at the Mansion House, 
warned Germany that in this matter she must reckon 
with England. The Morocco question was settled. 
Germany and France each made concessions. But 
certain bitternesses were aroused in Germany. 

The Haldane Mission of 1912 

Still an effort was made to heal the breach between 
England and Germany. 

In my interview with Von Bethmann-Hollweg, in 
Berlin, April, 1916, he spoke with considerable fullness 
of Lord Haldane's visit and the effort to make a lasting 
agreement between Germany and England. And in 
August, 1916, I had a long interview with Lord Hal- 
dane on the same subject. This was the most important 
attempt up to that time to secure permanently friendly 
relations between the two countries. In a recently 
published book on Lord Haldane, a chapter is devoted 
to his visit to Berlin. 

The author informs us that Lord Haldane has read 
the proofs of this particular chapter and has com- 
mented upon it thus: "In no point is it inaccurate." 
As the narrative is in many details new and is given to 
the world on the highest authority I shall quote it at 
some length : — 

After the Agadir incident and Mr. Lloyd George's strong 
speech at the Mansion House, the Kaiser sent a private 
message to one of our ministers — not Lord Haldane — by 
a personal friend in England, suggesting that the two Cabi- 
nets should confer. 

Instead of using the ordinary means of diplomatic com- 

32 



ANGLO-GERMAN RELATIONS, 1899-1914 

munication, which might have deepened the Kaiser's suspi- 
cions and appeared in the nature of a rebuff, the Government 
most wisely decided to send a minister who spoke the Ger- 
man language very perfectly, who was perfectly acquainted 
with the Kaiser and his chief ministers, and who was also 
well informed as to the working of the British Foreign Office. 
Lord Haldane was chosen for this most difficult mission, 
and after Sir Edward Goschen, the British Ambassador in 
Berlin, had come over here to discuss matters, Lord Haldane, 
ostensibly as a private citizen interested in education, set 
out for Germany. 

Lord Haldane arrived in Berlin on February 8, 1912. That 
same morning he had a private conversation at the British 
Embassy with the German Chancellor. On the next day he 
saw the German Emperor and Admiral von Tirpitz together. 
And on the third day he saw the Chancellor again. 

The purpose of this embassy, as we know now, was to 
ascertain why good relations between the two countries had . 
become overclouded, and to assure the German Government 
that the British policy of good- will which had characterized 
King Edward's reign still persisted. 

It is understood that in his opening conversation with the 
Chancellor, Lord Haldane established a most friendly confi- 
dence, Dr. von Bethmann-Hollweg declaring with absolute 
truth that for two and a half years the aim of his policy had 
been to come to some agreement with England. 

Lord Haldane made it perfectly plain to the Chancellor 
that the Triple Alliance had given Germany tremendous 
strength, and that any increase in her fighting forces was a 
very serious matter for other powers. So far as we know, 
Lord Haldane did not question Germany's right to increase 
her armaments, but it is known that he asked the Chancellor 
to consider whether an increase in the German navy, which 
must unquestionably be met by a double increase in the 
British navy, could facilitate friendly relations. The whole 
course of his negotiations turned on that point. The Chan- 
cellor made a tentative proposal on the subject, a proposal 
to see how far he could go in making an offer to spread Ger- 
man shipbuilding over a number of j^ears; in the mean time 

33 



OBSTACLES TO PEACE 

he referred to a particular proposal on the question of 
British and German action in the event of war which he had 
already made to the British Government. 

This proposal, we now know, was a formula of absolute 
neutrality, which bound both parties not to enter into any 
combination against each other. Lord Haldane pointed out 
the obvious objections to the wording of this formula, and 
suggested the British Government's alternative of mutual 
undertakings against all combinations, military and naval 
agreements, and plans directed to the purpose of aggression 
and unprovoked attack. The Chancellor was not satisfied 
with the extent of this counter-proposal. 

Lord Haldane's conversations took place on the basis that 
his first duty as representing the Government here was to 
make it plain that he could only speak on the footing that 
absolute loyalty to the ententes with France and Russia must 
be the condition of any further progress toward an under- 
standing with the German Government. He went on to say 
that we could not be reckoned on as neutrals if France were 
attacked or if the neutrality of Belgium were violated. He 
also insisted that if Germany entered on a policy of increas- 
ing her naval development we should lay down two keels to 
every one she laid down. 

When shortly afterwards she proceeded to introduce a 
new Fleet Law, this course was at once adopted, as a refer- 
ence to the British Naval Estimates, which were increased 
from thirty-six millions to fifty-one, and as the discussions 
in Parliament show. 

The most authoritative statement as to Lord Hal- 
dane's mission is the one issued September 1, 1915, 
by the British Foreign Office, from which I quote as 
follows : — 

Early in 1912 the German Chancellor sketched to Lord 
Haldane the following formula as one which would meet the 
views of the Imperial Government: — 

1. The high contracting parties assure each other mutu- 
ally of their desire of peace and friendship. 

34 



ANGLO-GERMAN RELATIONS, 1899-1914 

2. They will not either of them make or prepare to make 
any (unprovoked) attack upon the other, or join in any 
combination or design against the other for purposes of 
aggression, or become party to any plan or naval or military 
enterprise alone or in combination with any other power 
directed to such an end, and declare not to be bound by any 
such engagement. 

3. If either of the high contracting parties becomes entan- 
gled in a war with one or more powers in which it cannot be 
said to be the aggressor, the other party will at least observe 
toward the power so entangled a benevolent neutrality, and 
will use its utmost endeavor for the localization of the con- 
flict. If either of the high contracting parties is forced to go 
to war by obvious provocation from a third party, they bind 
themselves to enter into an exchange of views concerning 
their attitude in such a conflict. 

4. The duty of neutrality which rises out of the preceding 
article has no application in so far as it may not be reconcil- 
able with existing agreements which the high contracting 
parties have already made. 

5. The making of new agreements which render it impos- 
sible for either of the parties to observe neutrality toward 
the other beyond what is provided by the preceding limita- 
tion is excluded in conformity with the provisions in article 2. 

6. The high contracting parties declare that they will do 
all in their power to prevent differences and misunderstand- 
ings arising between either of them and other powers. 

These conditions, although in appearance fair as between 
the parties, would have been grossly unfair and one-sided in 
their operation. Owing to the general position of the Euro- 
pean powers, and the treaty engagements by which they 
were bound, the result of articles 4 and 5 would have been 
that, while Germany in the case of a European conflict 
would have remained free to support her friends, England 
would have been forbidden to raise a finger in defense of 
hers. 

Germany could arrange without difficulty that the formal 
inception of hostilities should rest with Austria. If Austria 
and Russia were at war, Germany would support Austria, 

35 



OBSTACLES TO PEACE 

as is evident from what occurred at the end of July, 1914; 
while as soon as Russia was attacked by two powers, France 
was bound to come to her assistance. In other words, the 
pledge of neutrality offered by Germany would have been 
absolutely valueless, because she could always plead the 
necessity of fulfilling her existing obligations under the 
Triple Alliance, as an excuse for departing from neutrality. 
On the other hand, no such departure, however serious the 
provocation, would have been possible for England, which 
was bound by no alliances with the exception of those with 
Japan and Portugal, while the making of fresh alliances was 
prohibited by article 5. In a word, as appeared still more 
evident later, there was to be a guarantee of absolute neu- 
trality on one side, but not on the other. 

It was impossible for us to enter into a contract so obvi- 
ously inequitable, and the formula was accordingly rejected 
by Sir E. Grey. 

I quote so fully because the negotiation was a 
most important effort on the part of two peace-lov- 
ing statesmen, Sir Edward Grey and Von Bethmann- 
Hollweg, to come to an agreement. 

A very clear exposition of Germany's views is 
given by Von Bernhardi ("Britain as Germany's Vas- 
sal," by Friedrich von Bernhardi, pp. 152-55): — 

England would have to give Germany an absolutely free 
hand in all questions touching European politics, and agree 
beforehand to any increase of Germany's power on the Conti- 
nent of Europe which may ensue from the formation of a 
Central European Union of Powers, or from a German war 
with France. England would have to agree that she would 
no longer strive to prevent by her diplomacy the expansion 
of Germany's colonial empire as long as such development 
would not take place at England's cost. She would further 
have to agree to any possible change of the map of North 
Africa that might take place in Germany's or Italy's favor. 
England would further have to bind herself that she would 

36 



ANGLO-GERMAN RELATIONS, 1899-1914 

not hinder Austria's expansion in the Balkan Peninsula. She 
would have to offer no opposition to Germany's economic 
expansion in Asia Minor, and she would have to make up 
her mind that she would no longer oppose the development 
of Germany's sea power by the acquisition of coaling- 
stations. 

As the concessions enumerated in the foregoing would in 
no case involve a material sacrifice on England's part, but 
would only mean the unconditional acknowledgment and 
benevolent support of Germany's natural development, 
Germany, on her part, would be able to bind herself that 
she would give equally benevolent and energetic support in 
promoting England's interests. 

It must remain an open question whether such an under- 
standing should take the form of an alliance. By its nature 
it would be equivalent to an alliance, and on the basis of 
such an understanding England and Germany could peace- 
fully arrange their economic interests throughout the world. 
Such an agreement would create an irresistible force, which 
would necessarily promote the development of both nations. 
It would create a civilizing factor which would advance 
human progress. It would go a long'way to banish war, and 
the fear of war, or would at least diminish its dangers. If 
England in this way approaches the Triple Alliance, Euro- 
pean peace would be assured, and a powerful counterpoise 
would be created to the growing influence of the United 
States. 

The effect of such an agreement as Germany wanted 
can easily be realized by studying the present war. 

When the German armies intrenched after the battle 
of the Marne, France had lost the greater part of her 
coal and iron. Unless she could import coal, iron and 
steel, France could not maintain her industries or 
manufacture more than a negligible amount of ammu- 
nition. Without England's sea power France would 
have been conquered in three months. 

37 



OBSTACLES TO PEACE 

The brief glance I have given to European diplomacy 
during the nineteenth century shows a series of dis- 
agreements between England and Germany, with fre- 
quent efforts toward friendly relations. 

Speaking of England's treaties of 1904 with France 
and in 1907 with Russia, Sir Edward Grey said in an 
interview given to the Chicago "Daily News," 
April 10, 1916, in answer to this question: — 

Should you mind indicating the object of Britain's rap- 
prochements in recent years? 

Good relations and an end to quarrels with other powers. 
Going far back, we had working relations with the Triple 
Alliance, but we were habitually in friction with France or 
Russia. Again and again it brought us to the verge of war, 
and so we decided to come to an arrangement with France 
and then with Russia, not with any hostile intent toward 
Germany or any other power, but wholly to pave the way 
to permanent peace. So, instead of preparing for war, as 
Germany asserts without a vestige of truth to support the 
assertion, we were endeavoring to avoid war and not to 
make it. 

It is impossible here to discuss the Balkan wars. 
Following Italy's war against Turkey, beginning 
September 27, 1911, ending with the Treaty of 
Lausanne, October 15, 1912, a union of the Balkan 
States was formed against Turkey. Montenegro 
opened the war, October 8, 1912. After the Balkan 
States had fought a victorious war with Turkey, they 
fought among themselves. This inter-Balkan war was 
settled by the Treaty of Bucharest, August 6, 1913. 

I will now discuss the relations of England and 
Germany up to June, 1914. 

Although the Haldane mission had failed, the rela- 
tions between England and Germany had greatly im- 

38 



ANGLO-GERMAN RELATIONS, 1899-1914 

proved during the Balkan wars. There remained, 
however, the very serious question of the Bagdad Rail- 
way and Asiatic Turkey. 

Professor Price, of the University of Cambridge, 
England, in his book "The Diplomatic History of the 
War" (Charles Scribner's Sons, 1914), makes this 
statement: — 

But in spite of the failure of the political and naval nego- 
tiations, in spite of the Morocco crisis and the ever-increasing 
pressure of armaments, Anglo-German relations sensibly im- 
proved after the Balkan crisis of 1912, when the two coun- 
tries cooperated for the settlement of the Albanian question. 
It appeared, in fact, about this time that a change in Anglo- 
German relations was about to take place on account of 
mutual interests in the Near East. Indeed, an Anglo- 
German agreement over spheres of influence in Asia Minor 
and Mesopotamia was being prepared and was to have been 
signed in the autumn of 1914. Such an agreement would 
have settled all outstanding questions between the two 
countries in the East, it would have given Germany her 
place in the sun, and might have laid the seed of an under- 
standing in Europe which would have included Germany in 
a European concert and put an end to the system of power- 
balances. 

Just what is meant by the very definite statement of 
Price? He must have had very definite knowledge to 
have declared in terms so positive that the crucial 
question of Asia Minor was being settled. 

Dr. Paul Rohrbach, in "Der Krieg und die deutsche 
Politik" (p. 85), says: — 

Now that everything has been changed, it may be safely 
said [kann man ruhig sagen] that the negotiations with Eng- 
land about the delimitation of our spheres of interest in the 
East and in Africa had been brought to a close and signed 
[i.e., I suppose, initialed by the negotiators], and that the 

39 



OBSTACLES TO PEACE 

only remaining question was as to their publication. In 
Africa, English policy had gone a surprisingly long way to 
meet us. In Turkey, not only had large concessions been 
made to the German point of view on the question of the 
Bagdad Railway, but the other matters connected with this, 
the working of the Mesopotamian petroleum-fields and the 
navigation of the Tigris, which England had hitherto had 
in her sole possession, were regulated along with German 
participation. 

Now, Dr. Rohrbach is one of the very best-informed 
men in Germany on all Eastern questions. 

The Anglo-German Treaty of 1914 

By a mere chance I learned the terms of this treaty, 
or agreement, which was initialed by the negotiators 
representing England and Germany in June, 1914, and 
was to have been signed in the autumn of 1914. On my 
way to Constantinople in the Balkanzug I was intro- 
duced by my friend and traveling companion, Pro- 
fessor von Schultze Gavernitz, to Dr. Jaeckh, an 
expert on Turkish affairs, who had been private secre- 
tary to Von Kiderlen-Wachter. He had helped in the 
preparation of the treaty, and he gave me its terms. 
I took the statement he gave me to the German For- 
eign Office in Berlin. Certain slight corrections were 
made. I publish herewith the document exactly as I 
got it from Dr. Zimmermann, now the Foreign Min- 
ister of the Imperial German Government. It settled 
the disputes between England and Germany, just as 
the treaties of 1904 and 1907 had settled the long- 
standing and war-provoking disputes between Eng- 
land and France and England and Russia. 

Sir Edward Grey had now completed his series of 
great agreements, and the German Government had 

40 



ANGLO-GERMAN RELATIONS, 1899-1914 

demonstrated its pacific character. It would seem 
that this treaty would have secured the peace of 
Europe for generations. 

Terms of the Anglo-German Agreement of 1914 

Anglo-German agreement, 1914, which was drafted and 
already initialed by the members of the conference. It would 
have satisfied Germany for decades without endangering 
the British Empire : — 

1. The Bagdad Railway from Constantinople to Basra is 
definitely left to German capital in cooperation with Tur- 
key. In the territory of the Bagdad Railway German eco- 
nomical working will not be hindered by England. 

2. Basra becomes a sea harbor in the building of which 
German capital is concerned with 60 per cent and English 
capital with 40 per cent. For the navigation from Basra 
to the Persian Gulf the independence of the open sea is 
agreed to. 

3. Kuweit is excluded from the agreement between Ger- 
many and England. 

4. In the navigation of the Tigris, English capital is inter- 
ested with 50 per cent, German capital with 25 per cent, 
and Turkish with 25 per cent. 

5. The oil-wells of the whole of Mesopotamia shall be 
developed by a British company, the capital of which shall 
be given at 50 per cent by England, at 25 per cent by the 
German Bank, at 25 per cent by the "Royal Dutch Com- 
pany" (a company which is Dutch, but closely connected 
with England) . For the irrigation works there had been in- 
tended a similar understanding. The rights of the Anglo- 
Persian Oil Company, in which, as is known, the English 
Government is concerned, remained unaffected. This soci- 
ety exercises south of Basra, on the Schatel- Arabia, as well 
as in all south and central Persia, a monopoly on the pro- 
duction and transport of oil. 

6. A simultaneous German-French agreement leaves free 
hand to French capital for the construction of railways in 
southern Syria and Palestine. 

41 



OBSTACLES TO PEACE 

Besides this, there is an agreement, already made before, 
between Germany and England, concerning Africa, with a 
repartition of their spheres of influence in Angola and Mo- 
zambique. 

Finally there is to be mentioned the Morocco agreement, 
which established the political predominance of France in 
Morocco, but, on the other hand, stated the principle of 
"open door" to the trade of all nations. 

Referring to this treaty Sidney Low, in a review of 
the new edition of Prince von Biilow's "Imperial 
Germany," in the "Fortnightly Review" for Decem- 
ber, 1916, says: — 

In the summer of 1914, shortly before the outbreak of the 
Great War, a treaty was concluded between Great Britain 
and Germany by which the Near Eastern ambitions of the 
former power were recognized (and, as it would seem, en- 
dorsed) to their full extent by the latter. Prince von Biilow 
points out that the conclusion of the Bagdad Railway Treaty 
sets the seal on one of the great achievements in German 
world-policy. The text of this remarkable treaty has not 
been made public; but its general purport is known, and it 
is known also that the German interests are treated with 
amazing generosity. "Germany," says Rohrbach, "was 
given concessions in the matter of the Bagdad Railway, the 
Mesopotamian petroleum springs, and the Tigris navigation, 
which exceeded all expectations." In point of fact, Germany, 
without any war, would have secured a virtual control of 
Asia Minor and Mesopotamia, and a predominant oppor- 
tunity for pacific penetration in the whole territory between 
the Mediterranean and the Persian Gulf. 

And Von Bethmann-Hollweg, in his speech in the 
Reichstag, December 2, 1914, in reference to this agree- 
ment, said : — 

The crisis of 1911 gave a new impetus to the negotiations. 
The English people suddenly realized that they had stood 

42 



ANGLO-GERMAN RELATIONS, 1899-1914 

at the brink of a European war. Popular sentiment forced 
the British Government to a rapprochement with Germany. 
After long and arduous negotiations we finally arrived at an 
understanding on various disputed questions of an economic 
character, regarding Africa and Asia Minor. This under- 
standing was to lessen every possible political friction. The 
world is wide. There is room enough for both nations to 
measure their strength in peaceful rivalry as long as our 
national strength is allowed free scope for development. 

The German Foreign Office published a collection of 
the dispatches to the Belgian Government from the 
Belgian Ministers at London, Paris, and Berlin. 
These dispatches were found in the archives of the 
Belgian Government. Among them is one from Baron 
Beyens, Belgian Minister at Berlin, dated February 
20, 1914, and dealing with this treaty. I quote the 
dispatch in full : — 

Baron Beyens, Belgian Minister at Berlin, to M. Davignon, 
Minister of Foreign Affairs 

Berlin, February 20, 1914, 

Sir: — 

The Franco-German agreement concerning Asia Minor, 
concluded very recently at Berlin after difficult negotiations 
and thanks to the personal intervention of the Chancellor, 
assures to France a large sphere of action and influence in 
Syria. She will be able to build a railway line starting from 
Beiroot along the valley of the Orontes, back of the Anti- 
Lebanon as far as Aleppo, the point of junction with the Ger- 
man lines. Another French line, also starting from Beiroot, 
passing through Horns, will reach the Euphrates in the di- 
rection of the 35th parallel. M. Cambon showed me on 
the map these lines which are not yet known to the public. 
The coast of the Mediterranean between Alexandretta and 
Beiroot will be neutralized; no railway can be built there 
either by Germany or by France, be it along the coast or 

43 



OBSTACLES TO PEACE 

across the Anti-Lebanon. A line of this sort was not consid- 
ered necessary. It would arouse the hostility of the fanatic 
tribes of the Anti-Lebanon who close their country to Euro- 
peans and carry the products of the soil, the chief one of 
which is tobacco, to the harbor of Latakia themselves. The 
difficulty of the negotiations consisted principally in the 
exact delimitation of the French and German zones of influ- 
ence (60 kilometers on each side of the railway), so as to 
prevent them from overlapping. In addition to this, France 
retains the railway concessions which she obtained from 
Turkey in the rich mineral district of ancient Cappadocia, 
along the Black Sea, and the very profitable railway of 
Smyrna and Cassaba. 

This is a very illuminating document. It greatly 
increases our knowledge of the agreements of 1914 
between France and Germany in regard to Asiatic 
Turkey. 

I give the treaty of June 1914 just as I received 
it from the German Foreign Office. Assuming that it 
would have been duly signed by the two Governments 
we may discuss its value as a solution of the problem 
of Asiatic Turkey. 

England's interest in Egypt and the Suez Canal 
was protected by the French occupation of Palestine 
and southern Syria. Her interests in the Persian Gulf 
were protected by her occupation of Kuweit. 

To a mere observer it would seem that some such 
agreement, that would also contain provisions to 
care for Russia's interests, would be a wise solution 
at the close of this war for the problem of Asiatic 
Turkey. 

Had such a treaty been consummated, the ten years 
1904 to 1914 would have been signalized by a series of 
treaties made between Great Britain and the great 

44 



ANGLO-GERMAN RELATIONS, 1899-1914 

Continental powers that would have removed nearly 
all the causes of friction in Europe. 

I have made little reference to the hostile feeling 
aroused in England and Germany by naval rivalries, 
partly because Germany's naval policy was simply a 
factor in her policy of expansion and partly because 
this rivalry is a matter of general knowledge, while less 
is known of the effect of Germany's Asiatic policy in 
the relations of the European powers. 

With these agreements between Germany on the one 
hand, and England and France on the other, what 
caused the war? 

In my next chapter I will deal with the cause of the 
war that startled the world in August, 1914. 



CHAPTER IV 

THE THIRTEEN DAYS FROM JULY 23 
TO AUGUST 4 1914 

The colonial and naval policy of Germany had caused 
periods of extreme tension between England and 
Germany, and for more than ten years before the 
present war broke out possibility and probability of 
war between these powers were openly discussed. A 
period of critical stress was caused by the Balkan Wars, 
when the conflicting interests of England and Germany 
might well have led to war. But the two countries had 
become less hostile to each other, and although the 
Haldane mission of 1912 was fruitless, good feeling and 
mutual confidence had worked out a solution of the 
fundamental problem of the Bagdad Railway and 
Asiatic Turkey. 

The collaboration of England and Germany during 
the Balkan Wars had established relations of mutual 
confidence with a considerable degree of friendliness. 

In April, 1913 Von Bethmann-Hollweg said in the 
Reichstag : — 

With England we are on the best footing; we have gone 
hand in hand with her in the present crisis, and in spite of 
Great Britain's membership in the Triple Entente, it is very 
advisable to aim at a peaceful agreement with the British 
Empire in the future. The language of the British statesmen 
is altogether conciliatory and peaceable. 

We have confirmation of the growing entente between 
England and Germany in some dispatches sent by the 

46 



JULY 23 TO AUGUST 4, 1914 

Belgian Minister at Berlin to his Government. These 
dispatches are in a Gray Book published by the Ger- 
man Government, containing dispatches from the 
Belgian Ministers at Berlin, London, and Paris from 
1905 to 1914, and discovered by the German authorities 
in the archives of the Belgian Government in Brussels. 
I refer to this book again and quote freely from it in my 
chapter on Belgian neutrality. 

Baron Beyens, Belgian Minister at Berlin to M. Davignon, 
Minister of Foreign Affairs. [Belgium.] 

Berlin, October 18, 1912. 
Sir: — 

The first effect of the Balkan crisis has been to bring about 
a rapprochement between the Imperial Government and that 
of the Republic. The initiative which M. Poincare person- 
ally took, with a view to reestablishing peace, received the 
approval and even the praise of the German press. [Extract.] 

Baron Beyens, Belgian Minister at Berlin to M. Davignon, 
Minister of Foreign Affairs. [Belgium.] 

Berlin, November 30, 1912. 
Sir: — 

On this point [as to the Balkans] the German policy is 
approaching that of England and France, both emphatically 
pacific. The German press has adopted a much more concili- 
atory tone toward Great Britain and particularly toward 
Sir Edward Grey. The relations between the German and 
the British Governments are better than they have been for 
a long time and, according to the assurance of the French 
Ambassador, a relaxation which greatly helps the mainte- 
nance of peace is also taking place between the Cabinets of 
Berlin and Paris. [Extract.] 

Additional proof of the improvement in the relations 
of Germany and England is to be found in the dispatch 

47 



OBSTACLES TO PEACE 

of Sir E. Goschen, British Ambassador in Berlin, who 
wrote on August 5, 1914, to Sir Edward Grey: — 

I found the Chancellor very agitated. He said all his 
efforts in that direction had been rendered useless by this 
last terrible step, and the policy to which, as I knew, he had 
devoted himself since his accession to office had tumbled 
down like a house of cards. 

As I was leaving he said that the blow of Great Britain 
joining Germany's enemies was all the greater that almost 
up to the last moment he and his Government had been 
working with us and supporting our efforts to maintain peace 
between Austria and Russia. I said that this was part of 
the tragedy that saw the two nations fall apart just at the 
moment when the relations between them had been more 
friendly and cordial than they had been for years. 

This improvement in the relations between the two 
countries is referred to by Sir Edward Grey in a dis- 
patch to Sir E. Goschen on July 30, 1914: — 

And I will say this: If the peace of Europe can be pre- 
served and the present crisis safely passed, my own endeavor 
will be to promote some arrangement to which Germany 
could be a party, by which she could be assured that no 
aggressive or hostile policy would be pursued against her or 
her allies by France, Russia, and ourselves, jointly or sepa- 
rately. I have desired this and worked for it, as far as I 
could, through the last Balkan crisis, and Germany, having 
a corresponding object, our relations sensibly improved. 

Any well-informed European statesman might well 
have said on the morning of June 28, 1914, that the out- 
look for peace in Europe was better than it had been for 
decades. 

In 1870 the candidacy of the Prince of Hohenzollern 
for the throne of Spain was the immediate or at least 
ostensible cause of the Franco-Prussian War, and in 

48 



JULY 23 TO AUGUST 4, 1914 

1914 the assassination of the Crown Prince of Austria- 
Hungary was the immediate cause of the present war. 
The key to the diplomacy of the fatal thirteen days, 
July 23 to August 4, 1914, lies in the different methods 
employed respectively by the British and German 
Governments to maintain peace after the breach be- 
tween Austria-Hungary and Servia. 

Von Bethmann-Hollweg refused to interfere between 
Austria and Servia, and devoted all his efforts to keep 
the other powers out. The policy of Germany was 
identical with her policy in 1908 when Austria-Hun- 
gary annexed Bosnia and Herzegovina. Sir Edward 
Grey, with a clearer and saner vision, realized from the 
start that the danger would be in restraining Russia, 
and at once, grasping the essential European interest 
in the Austro-Servian War, urged the only method 
that could have possibly prevented the war. 

On July 24, in a dispatch to the British Embassy in 
Berlin, Sir Edward Grey said : — 

If the Austrian ultimatum to Servia did not lead to trouble 
between Austria and Russia I had no concern with it; I had 
heard nothing yet from St. Petersburg, but I was very appre- 
hensive of the view Russia would take of the situation. 

And on Saturday, the 25th, Sir Edward Grey tele- 
graphed to the British Ambassador at St. Petersburg: 

The sudden, brusque, and peremptory character of the 
Austrian demarche makes it almost inevitable that in a very 
short time both Russia and Austria will have mobilized 
against each other. In this event, the only chance of peace, 
in my opinion, is for the other four powers to join in asking 
the Austrian and Russian Governments not to cross the 
frontier, and to give time for the four powers acting at 
Vienna and St. Petersburg to try and arrange matters. If 

49 



OBSTACLES TO PEACE 

Germany will adopt this view, I feel strongly that France 
and ourselves should act upon it. Italy would no doubt 
gladly cooperate. 

No diplomatic intervention or meditation would be toler- 
ated by either Russia or Austria unless it was clearly impar- 
tial and included the allies or friends of both. The coopera- 
tion of Germany would, therefore, be essential. 

And to the British Embassy in Berlin, July 25 : — 

Apparently we should now soon be face to face with the 
mobilization of Austria and Russia. The only chance of 
peace, if this did happen, would be for Germany, France, 
Italy, and ourselves to keep together, and to join in asking 
Austria and Russia not to cross the frontier till we had had 
time to try and arrange matters between them. 

Finally, on July 29, Sir Edward Grey telegraphed to 
the British Ambassador at Berlin : — 

The German Government had said that they were favor- 
able in principle to mediation between Russia and Austria 
if necessary. They seemed to think the particular method 
of conference, consultation, or discussion, or even conversa- 
tion a quatre in London, too formal a method. I urged that 
the German Government should suggest any method by 
which the influence of the four powers could be used together 
to prevent war between Austria and Russia. France agreed, 
Italy agreed. The whole idea of mediation or mediating 
influence was ready to be put into operation by any method 
that Germany could suggest if mine was not acceptable. In 
fact, mediation was ready to come into operation by any 
method that Germany thought possible if only Germany 
would "press the button" in the interests of peace. 

Already on Friday, July 24, Sir Edward Grey tele- 
graphed the British Ambassador at Vienna: — 

In the ensuing conversation with His Excellency, the 
Austrian Ambassador, I remarked that it seemed to me a 
matter for great regret that a time limit, and such a short 

50 



JULY 23 TO AUGUST 4, 1914 

one at that, had been insisted upon at this stage of the pro- 
ceedings. The murder of the Archduke and some of the 
circumstances respecting Servia quoted in a note aroused 
sympathy with Austria. ... I added that I felt great appre- 
hension, and that I should concern myself with the matter 
simply and solely from the point of view of the peace of 
Europe. The merits of the dispute between Austria and 
Servia were not the concern of His Majesty's Government, 
and such comments, as I had made above, were not made in 
order to discuss those merits. 

As events have unfortunately proved, Sir Edward 
Grey's plan was the only one that could have saved 
Europe. For this reason there is a general belief that 
Germany failed to "press the button" because she 
wanted war. But neither the circumstances nor the 
available documents justify such a conclusion, at least 
so far as the German Government and the masses of 
the German people are concerned. Time alone will 
show whether or not the military party in Germany 
wanted war. I deal only with available material. So 
far as I have been able to get material from personal 
interviews and documents, it seems clear that the Ger- 
man Government did not want war. One may criticize 
the method employed which was to localize the Austro- 
Servian War, and not to regard the war as a matter of 
concern to Europe. 

The exact difference between the viewpoint of the 
English and German Governments as to how to pre- 
vent war is to be found in the dispatch from Berlin 
of Sir E. Goschen (the British Ambassador) to Sir 
Edward Grey, on July 28 : — 

At the invitation of Imperial Chancellor, I called upon 
His Excellency this evening. He said that he wished me to 
tell you that he was most anxious that Germany should 

51 



OBSTACLES TO PEACE 

work together with England for maintenance of general 
peace, as they had done successfully in the last European 
crisis. He had not been able to accept your proposal for a 
conference of representatives of the great powers, because 
he did not think that it would be effective, and because such 
a conference would in his opinion have had appearance of an 
"Areopagus" consisting of two powers of each group sitting 
in judgment upon the two remaining powers; but his in- 
ability to accept proposed conference must not be regarded 
as militating against his strong desire for effective coopera- 
tion. I ventured to say that if Austria refused to take any 
notice of Servian note, which, to my mind, gave way in 
nearly every point demanded by Austria, and which in any 
case offered a basis for discussion, surely a certain portion of 
responsibility would rest with her. His Excellency said that 
he did not wish to discuss the Servian note, but that Austria's 
standpoint, and in this he agreed, was that her quarrel with 
Servia was a purely Austrian concern with which Russia 
had nothing to do. He reiterated his desire to cooperate 
with England and his intention to do his utmost to maintain 
general peace. "A war between the great powers must be 
avoided," were his last words. 

The trouble was that Austria felt secure in her course. 

The exact position of Austria-Hungary and Ger- 
many is expressed in a dispatch from Count Szogyeny, 
the Austrian Ambassador at Berlin, to Count Berch- 
told, as follows: — 

Berlin, July 28, 191^. 

The proposal for mediation made by Great Britain, that 
Germany, Italy, Great Britain, and France should meet at a 
conference at London, is declined so far as Germany is con- 
cerned on the ground that it is impossible for Germany to 
bring her Ally before a European Court in her settlement 
with Servia. 

On the 28th of July Von Bethmann-Hollweg sent a 

52 



JULY 23 TO AUGUST 4, 1914 

dispatch to the Governments of Germany, which con- 
cluded in these words : — 

Our own interest therefore calls us to the side of Austria- 
Hungary. . . . 

Should, however, against our hope, through the interfer- 
ence of Russia, the fire be spread, we should have to support, 
faithful to our duty as allies, the neighbor-monarchy with 
all the power at our command. 

It soon appeared, however, that the course of affairs 
would not follow that of the Bosnian crisis of 1908, 
and that Russia would insist on interfering if Austria 
attacked Servia. This led to a dispatch from Von 
Bethmann-Hollweg, that does not appear in the 
German White Book. It was revealed in a debate in 
the Reichstag November 9, 1916, by Von Bethmann- 
Hollweg, and is as follows : — 

Von Bethmann-Hollweg to Count Berchtold 

Berlin, July 30, 19U. 

Should the Austro-Hungarian Government refuse all 
mediation, we should be confronted with a world-conflagra- 
tion in which England would go against us, and Italy and 
Rumania, by all indications, would not be with us; so that 
with Austria-Hungary we should be facing three great 
powers. Germany, as a result of England's hostility, would 
have to bear the chief brunt of the fight. 

The political prestige of Austria-Hungary, the honor of 
her arms, and her justified claims against Servia can be 
sufficiently safeguarded by the occupation of Belgrade or 
other places. We therefore urgently and emphatically ask 
the Vienna Cabinet to consider the acceptance of mediation 
on the proposed conditions. 

This dispatch caused a sensation in Germany when 
it was made known. 

53 



OBSTACLES TO PEACE 

On Thursday, July 30, Von Bethmann-Hollweg saw 
the situation substantially as Sir Edward Grey had 
seen it on Saturday, July 25. The loss of these five 
critical days was fatal. 

On July 30, Von Bethmann-Hollweg telegraphed to 
the German Ambassador at Vienna as follows : — 

Berlin, July 30, 191l>. 

We are indeed ready to fulfill our duty. As an ally we 
must, however, refuse to be drawn into a world-conflagra- 
tion through Austria-Hungary not respecting our advice. 
Your Excellency will express this to Count Berchtold with 
all emphasis and great seriousness. 

In the German White Book occurs this statement 
as to England's policy: — 

Shoulder to shoulder with England, we labored inces- 
santly, and supported every proposal in Vienna from which 
we hoped to gain the possibility of a peaceable solution of 
the conflict. We even, as late as the 30th of July, forwarded 
the English proposal to Vienna, as basis for negotiations, 
that Austria-Hungary should dictate her conditions in 
Servia, i.e., after her march into Servia. 

And on August 4, 1914, before the Reichstag, Von 
Bethmann-Hollweg said : — 

Russia has set fire to the building. We are at war with 
Russia and France — a war that has been forced upon us. 
. . . From the first moment of the Austro-Servian conflict we 
declared that this question must be limited to Austria- 
Hungary and Servia, and we worked with this end in view. 
All Governments, especially that of Great Britain, took the 
same attitude. Russia alone asserted that she had to be 
heard in the settlement of this matter. 

Few students of the war, or writers of books on the 
war, have paid much attention to the efforts for mu- 

54 



JULY 23 TO AUGUST 4, 1914 

tual understanding between England and Germany. 
This has led German writers into a field of absurdi- 
ties in their endeavor to charge England with the guilt 
of the war. The same is true of the writers of books 
hostile to Germany. For that reason I have described 
somewhat fully the Haldane visit to Germany in 1912, 
and have also referred to the growing friendliness 
between the two countries during the Balkan Wars. 
I have given the terms of the proposed treaty of June, 
1914, showing that the two Governments were work- 
ing together hopefully. 

There is one other point in the history of the origin 
of the war that is frequently forgotten by people gen- 
erally, and that is the nature of the situation in Austria- 
Hungary. When I visited Buda-Pesth and Vienna, last 
March, it came to me, almost as a new idea, that, 
after all, the war started between Austria and Servia. 
Further, that from the Austro-Hungarian standpoint, 
the interference of other powers was utterly uncalled for. 

During the month of July, and up to the time that 
England entered the war, Dr. E. J. Dillon was in 
Vienna. Dr. Dillon is perhaps the best-informed 
journalist in Europe. If De Blowitz has a successor it 
is Dillon. I have met him frequently in London, 
Paris, Petrograd, and elsewhere, and have been famil- 
iar with his work for years. His dispatches to the 
London "Daily Telegraph" from July 11 until August 
4, 1914, give a singularly accurate picture of the out- 
look. His knowledge was so well founded that his 
dispatches are prophetic. 

In a dispatch dated Vienna, July 11 (two weeks be- 
fore Austria-Hungary sent the note to Servia that 
caused the war), he says: — 

55 



OBSTACLES TO PEACE 

I have received a very remarkable commentary on the 
feeling called forth in Austria-Hungary against Servia by 
the Serajevo outrage from one of the highest officials of the 
State. My informant's statement is as follows : — 

"In order to understand the feelings that have been 
excited in Austria-Hungary by the Serajevo murders, the 
evils to which this country has already been subjected at the 
hands of her small neighbors in the southeast must be taken 
into account. There can be no doubt that Servia's policy 
for more than ten years past has been directed toward the 
ultimate end of wresting such regions as are inhabited by 
Serbs from Austria-Hungary, and that she has perhaps even 
hoped to gain the entire Southern Slavonic territory now 
incorporated with the Monarchy." 

In my interview with Count Tisza and his asso- 
ciates I went right to the heart of the question : — 

" Why did Austria-Hungary send such a peremptory note 
to Servia with a forty-eight-hour limit?" 

"Because," they said, "the intrigues and aims of Servia 
threatened the existence of the Empire." 

"But why the forty-eight-hour limit?" 

" Because we knew Servia, knew that nothing but such a 
demand would bring a reply. Without such a time limit no 
satisfaction could be secured. Twice before we had to 
mobilize our armies at an expense of $80,000,000 to $100,- 
000,000 each time, putting a heavy burden on our national 
budget. The situation had become intolerable and danger- 
ous and finally Servia had plotted to murder our Crown 
Prince." 

"But did you not know," I asked, "that Russia would 
certainly intervene?" 

" It was none of Russia's business. It was a private matter 
between Servia and us. What would America think if Japan 
intervened in your Mexican trouble?" 

" Yes," I said. " Let us admit that it was none of Russia's 
business. Still, did you not know that Russia would make 
it her business?" 

56 



JULY 23 TO AUGUST 4, 1914 

They said: " We thought the chances of Russia's interfer- 
ing were about fifty-fifty, but that whatever the conse- 
quences we must remove the Servian menace. " 

I asked if they did not realize that if Russia came in all 
Europe would be involved. The reply was: "It was none of 
Europe's business. Europe must interfere at her own risk. 
Our situation was dangerous and intolerable. Because 
Servia was a small state we had been very patient, but when 
our Crown Prince was assassinated we felt we must put an 
end to the whole Servian danger." 

The manner of the Hungarians I saw was even more 
convincing than their words. Some of the officials gave 
the impression of men under an obsession. To them 
the Servian trouble two years ago was the most terrible 
thing in the w r orld. 

Count Berchtold was Foreign Minister when the 
war broke out, and he wrote all the dispatches of 
Austria-Hungary, including the note to Servia. The 
Countess Berchtold is the daughter of a famous 
Hungarian diplomat. Her father was for many years 
the Austrian Ambassador to England. 

I was fortunate enough to be invited to luncheon by 
the Count and Countess Berchtold, for I got the most 
definite information from the Countess Berchtold, who 
was not only well informed, but expressed herself 
clearly and objectively. 

Into the maze of southeastern European politics I 
cannot go, so I will give the ideas I got from the Count 
and Countess in terms understandable to myself and 
to my readers : — 

The southern and eastern boundaries of Austria-Hungary 
are, so far as race, nationality, and religion are concerned, 
a sort of twilight zone. 

After their success in the two Balkan wars, the Servian 

57 



OBSTACLES TO PEACE 

people determined to increase their territory by annexing 
the provinces of the Austro-Hungarian Empire inhabited 
by Slavs. 

They believed that our empire would soon fall to pieces, 
that only the Emperor Francis Joseph held it together. 
They counted on a revolution in Bosnia and Herzegovina, 
and on the unreliability of the Slav regiments in the Austrian 
army. 

They not only hated Austria, but regarded her as power- 
less, as a country ripe for destruction, on the ruins of which 
they would found the Great Servian Empire. These ideas 
were set forth, even in their more moderate and serious news- 
papers. No one could run for office in Servia, unless he were 
opposed to Austria and backed up the anti-Austrian prop- 
aganda. 

In the press and on the platform the Servians spoke of the 
Austro-Hungarian officials and leading men as outlaws, and 
referred to them as murderers, rogues, cursed Austrians, etc. 

We realized that we must once for all clear up this con- 
tinuing and serious danger. 

I also saw Baron Burian, the Foreign Minister 
of Austria-Hungary in 1916. He said to me that 
"Russia was using Servia as a torpedo to wreck our 
empire." 

To summarize: The Austro-Hungarian Empire has 
about eight Irelands or Mexicos. The worst of these 
Irelands was Servia. Of course the conditions are not 
identical, and for the purpose of getting at the real 
cause of the war it is not necessary to go into the rights 
and wrongs of the Austro-Servian situation. First let 
us study the racial situation in Austria-Hungary: — 



58 



JULY 23 TO AUGUST 4, 1914 

Austria 

Round figures 
in tens of 
thousands 

Germans 9,950,000 

Czechs 6,440,000 

Poles 4,970,000 

Ruthenians 3,520,000 

Slovenes 1,260,000 

Serbo-Croatians 790,000 

Italians 770,000 

Roumanians 280,000 

Total 27,980,000 

Hungary 

Magyars 10,050,000 

Roumanians 2,950,000 

Serbo-Croatians 2,940,000 

Germans 2,040,000 

Slovaks 1,970,000 

Ruthenians 480,000 

Total 20,430,000 

Bosnia and Herzegovina 

Serbo-Croatians (orthodox or Moslems of 

Serbian origin) 2,000,000 

For the last thirty years Austro-Hungarian politics 
have centered entirely about the struggle of the other 
races (Poles, Czechs, Slovaks, Ruthenes, Croats, Serbs, 
Slovenes, Rumanians, and Italians, — nearly 30,000,- 
000 in all) against the German-Magyar ascendancy 
crystallized in the Dualist Constitution. . . . 

The race question, however, is not only an internal 
problem. Many of the races in the Monarchy have 
large numbers of their fellows just beyond the bound- 
aries. The bulk of the Poles are in Russian and German 
Poland; the Ruthenes are but a section of the Little 

59 



OBSTACLES TO PEACE 

Russian people occupying the Ukraine — the south- 
west corner of Russia; three and a half million Ruma- 
nians are blood brothers to the inhabitants of Rumania; 
finally, the Southern Slavs in Servia and Montenegro 
number 3,500,000 as against 6,500,000 within the 
Monarchy. The politics of Austria-Hungary are infi- 
nitely complicated by nationalist movements among 
each of these peoples for reunion with their brothers 
outside. 

On the 28th of June, 1914, the Crown Prince of 
Austria-Hungary and his consort were assassinated at 
Serajevo. This deed inflamed Austria-Hungary, and on 
July 23 Count Berchtold sent the dispatch that led to 
the war. 

The gist of the Austrian demands, of which there 
were ten, was as follows: — 

1. Servia shall suppress all anti- Austrian publications. 

2. Dissolve the Narodna Odbrana and all similar socie- 
ties, confiscate their funds, and prevent their re-forming. 

3. Remove from public education in Servia all teachers 
and teaching that are anti-Austrian. 

4. Remove from military and civil service all officers and 
officials guilty of anti- Austrian propaganda; Austria will 
name the persons. 

5. Accept collaboration of Austrian representatives in the 
suppression of anti-Austrian propaganda. 

6. Take judicial proceedings against accessories to the 
plot against the Archduke; Austrian delegates will take part 
in the investigations. 

7. Arrest Major Voija Tankositch and the individual 
named Milan Ciganovitch. 

8. Prevent and punish the illegal traffic in arms and 
explosives. 

9. Send to Austria explanations of all unjustifiable utter- 
ances of high Servian officials, at home and abroad. 

60 



JULY 23 TO AUGUST 4, 1914 

10. Notify without delay that the above measures are 
executed. Reply before 6 p.m. on Saturday, July 25. 

The answers to the ten points may be summarized 
thus : — 

1. Yes; will suppress all anti-Austrian publications. 

2. Yes; will suppress the Narodna Odbrana and similar 
societies. 

3. Yes; will expel all anti- Austrian teachers and teaching 
as soon as evidence given. 

4. Yes; will expel all anti- Austrian officers and officials, 
if Austria will furnish names and acts of guilty persons. 

5. Yes; will accept collaboration of Austrian representa- 
tives in these proceedings, as far as consonant with princi- 
ples of international law and criminal procedure and neigh- 
borly relations. 

6. Yes; will take the judicial proceedings; will also keep 
Austria informed; but cannot admit the participation of 
Austrians in the judicial investigations, as this would be a 
violation of the Constitution. 

7. Yes; have arrested Tankositch; ordered arrest of 
Ciganovitch. 

8. Yes; will suppress and punish traffic in arms and ex- 
plosives. 

9. Yes; will deal with the said high officials, if Austria 
will supply evidence. 

10. Yes; will notify without delay. 

If this answer not satisfactory, Servia will abide by 
decision of the Hague Tribunal. 

If all these conditions were not accepted in forty- 
eight hours, war would immediately be declared. 
Public opinion in Austria was for war. If Servia 
accepted, her situation would be almost the same as if 
she had been reduced to submission by a victorious 
war. I was constantly told by people, in general, that 
the note was meant to make war. 

61 



OBSTACLES TO PEACE 

In a dispatch on July 24 to the London "Daily 
Telegraph," from Vienna, Dr. E. J. Dillon said: — 

Is it to be war or peace? My personal belief is that war 
will be avoided. But, having traveled from the extreme 
south of the Monarchy to Vienna, and conversed with vari- 
ous representatives of the population on the way, I am in a 
position to affirm that almost everybody hopes fervently 
that the long-threatening storm will burst, not because the 
national sentiment is suddenly grown bellicose, but because 
people are sick to death of the periodic crises which throw 
public and private life out of gear, paralyze trade and com- 
merce, inflict enormous losses on the wealth-creating classes, 
and are then settled for a couple of months or years, only to 
break out anew. 

As I have said, Dr. Dillon is one of the very best 
informed journalists in Europe. I therefore quote fully 
from him as to the actual belief in Austria, in which he 
confirms all I learned nearly two years later. He 
says : — 

In a word, the impending break-up of the Habsburg Mon- 
archy is become a recognized political dogma, accepted theo- 
retically by some powers, but firmly held by others and 
treated by them as the center round which their policy, 
domestic and foreign, revolves. This is especially true of 
Servia. 

It is no longer mere prestige that is at stake; it is a ques- 
tion of life or death for the Monarchy, and will be dealt with 
as such. Consequently, adequate provision has been made 
for whichever alternative Servia may prefer. 

That is why only forty-eight hours were allowed for 
reflection, and why tasks are imposed which will subject 
the pride of the Servian nation to the most painful ordeal it 
has ever undergone. 

No discussion will be allowed; no extension of time will be 
granted. Such in outline is the case as stated here. 

62 



JULY 23 TO AUGUST 4, 1914 

As to the position of Germany Dr. Dillon is equally 
accurate. On July 25 he telegraphed : — 

Meanwhile Austria's allies have taken their stand, which 
is favorable to the action of this Government and to the 
employment of all the available means to localize the event- 
ual conflict. It is further assumed that Great Britain will, 
if hostilities should result, hold aloof, and that France will 
make her influence felt in preventing, rather than waiting 
to localize, the struggle. 

Respecting Russia's attitude in the contingency of war, 
opinions are openly divided, but no doubt is expressed or 
felt that if the crisis had not come to a climax until a year or 
two later, her entire support would be unhesitatingly given 
to Servia. 

The general feeling in Austria-Hungary is expressed 
by the "Neue Freie Presse," which stated that a 
peaceful settlement could follow only a "war to the 
knife against Pan-Slavism." 

Sir M. de Bunsen wrote to Sir E. Grey that "the 
language of the press leaves the impression that the 
surrender of Servia is neither expected nor really de- 
sired." 

The Servian Government accepted fully all the de- 
mands excepting two. She did not refuse these two 
demands, but offered to submit them to the Hague 
Tribunal or to the great powers. 

Austria, without a moment's consideration, refused 
to accept Servia's reply, and declared war immediately. 

At this point, in all likelihood, the European war 
could have been avoided by referring the dispute to 
The Hague. History will hold Austria-Hungary as 
having assumed this most terrible responsibility by re- 
fusing a course of action which would almost certainly 
have secured peace. 

63 



OBSTACLES TO PEACE 

At the last moment Servia held out another olive 
branch, as is seen in a dispatch sent from the British 
Ambassador at Rome on July 28, telegraphed to 
Sir Edward Grey, as follows: — 

At the request of the Minister for Foreign Affairs I submit 
the following to you: — 

In a long conversation this morning Servian Charge 
d'Affaires had said he thought that if some explanations 
were given regarding mode in which Austrian agents would 
require to intervene under article 5 and article 6, Servia 
might still accept the whole Austrian Note. 

As it was not to be anticipated that Austria would give 
such explanations to Servia, they might be given to powers 
engaged in discussions who might then advise Servia to 
accept without conditions. 

The world is entitled to know why Austria-Hungary 
refused this opportunity to prevent war. 

I have taken considerable pains to make clear the 
local situation. Austria-Hungary did not consider 
sufficiently the international situation. Russia was de- 
termined to prevent the subjugation of Servia. If 
neither Russia nor Austria yielded, war between those 
two powers was inevitable. The moment they went 
to war Germany must, as a matter of self-preservation, 
assist Austria. She could not see her ally reduced 
militarily. For the same reason France could not see 
the military power of Russia destroyed by the united 
forces of Germany and Austria, and England could 
not afford to have France reduced to practical vassal- 
age by Germany. 

All these possibilities Sir Edward Grey foresaw at 
the beginning; too late Germany and Austria-Hungary 
realized these same possibilities. No combination short 
of the four powers, England, Germany, France, and 

64 



JULY 23 TO AUGUST 4, 1914 

Italy, could have mediated between Austria and 
Russia, and thus have localized the difficulty. The 
failure to form such a conference was due to the oppo- 
sition of Germany, whose policy was to localize the 
war between Austria and Servia. 

War could have been avoided at the start had 
Austria been willing to go to The Hague, as suggested 
by Servia, and later by the Czar. Still later, war could 
have been avoided by a combination of the four powers 
who could have exercised sufficient restraint on Austria 
and Russia. ** 

All that I can learn seems to indicate that both 
Austria and Germany expected the crisis of 1914 to 
take the same course as the Bosnian crisis of 1908. 

Dr. Dillon on Sunday, July 26, telegraphed from 
Vienna the reasons why Austria expected as free a 
hand as in 1908: — 

Vigilant attention was paid to the choice of a propitious 
moment. 

It was a moment when the sympathies of Europe were 
with the Austro-Hungarian people, whose sovereign-desig- 
nate was cruelly slain by political assassins from Servia at 
the instigation of men who occupied posts as public servants 
there. 

It was a moment when the French nation, impressed by 
revelations made in the Senate respecting its inadequate 
preparedness for war, appeared less than ever minded to 
take any diplomatic action which might lead to a breach of 
the peace. 

It was a moment when the cares of the British Govern- 
ment were absorbed in forecasting and preparing for the 
fateful consequences of its internal policy, in regard to Irish 
Home Rule, which may, it is apprehended, culminate in 
civil war. 

It was a moment when the President and Foreign Secre- 

65 



OBSTACLES TO PEACE 

tary of the French Republic were absent in Russia, drinking 
toasts to the peace of Europe, and celebrating the concord 
and brotherhood of the French and Russian peoples. 

It was a moment when Russia herself was confronted 
with a problem of revolutionary strikes, which, it is assumed, 
would set in with oceanic violence if that empire were to 
embark in war with the Central European powers. 

As the week advanced Sir Edward Grey, realizing 
more and more the seriousness of the situation, finally 
sent this pregnant message to the British Ambassador 
in Berlin, dated London, July 31 : — 

I said to German Ambassador this morning that if Ger- 
many could get any reasonable proposal put forward which 
made it clear that Germany and Austria were striving to 
preserve European peace, and that Russia and France would 
be unreasonable if they rejected it, I would support it at 
St. Petersburg and Paris, and go the length of saying that 
if Russia and France would not accept it His Majesty's 
Government would have nothing more to do with the conse- 
quences; but, otherwise, I told German Ambassador that if 
France became involved we should be drawn in. 

You can add this when sounding Chancellor or Secretary 
of State as to proposal above. 

It is difficult to understand why the German Gov- 
ernment failed to avail itself of the opportunity Sir 
Edward Grey suggested. It would almost seem as if 
the Chancellor had been overruled. 

It will be remembered that while the Franco- 
Prussian War in 1870 was threatening between France 
and Germany, on account of France's opposition to 
the candidacy of the Prince of Hohenzollern to the 
throne of Spain, suddenly the threat of war was 
averted by the withdrawal of the candidacy of the 
Prince. 

66 



JULY 23 TO AUGUST 4, 1914 

The King of Prussia did not want war. Bismarck 
himself tells us fully how he was able to make war 
against the opposition of the King. 

Here is Prince Bismarck's own account of his act 
which led France to declare war on Germany: — 

The Ems Telegram l 

On July 12, 1870, I decided to hurry off from Varzin to 
Ems to discuss with His Majesty about summoning the 
Reichstag for the purpose of the mobilization. As I passed 
through Wussow my friend Mulert, the old clergyman, 
stood before the parsonage door and warmly greeted me; 
my answer from the open carriage was a thrust in quarte and 
tierce in the air, and he clearly understood that I believed I 
was going to war. As I entered the courtyard of my house at 
Berlin, and before leaving the carriage, I received telegrams 
from which it appeared that the King was continuing to 
treat with Benedetti, even after the French threats and 
outrages in parliament and in the press, and not referring 
him with calm reserve to his ministers. During the meal, at 
which Moltke and Roon were present, the announcement 
arrived from the embassy in Paris that the Prince of Hohen- 
zollern had renounced his candidature in order to prevent 
the war with which France threatened us. My first idea was 
to retire from the service, because, after all the insolent 
challenges which had gone before, I perceived in this ex- 
torted submission a humiliation of Germany for which I did 
not desire to be responsible. This impression of a wound to 
our sense of national honor by the compulsory withdrawal 
so dominated me that I had already decided to announce 
my retirement at Ems. 

I was very much depressed, for I saw no means of repair- 
ing the corroding injury I dreaded to our national position 
from a timorous policy, unless by picking quarrels clumsily 
and seeking them artificially. I already regarded war at 

1 From Bismarck, the Man and the Statesman. By Himself. Harper & 
Bros., publishers. 

67 



OBSTACLES TO PEACE 

that time as a necessity, which we could no longer avoid 
with honor. I telegraphed to my people at Varzin not to 
pack up or start, for I should be back again in a few days. 
I now believed in peace; but as I would not represent the 
attitude by which this peace had been purchased, I gave up 
the journey to Ems and asked Count Eulenburg to go thither 
and represent my opinion to His Majesty. In the same sense 
I conversed with the Minister of War, Von Roon: we had 
got the slap in the face from France, and had been reduced, 
by our complaisance, to look like seekers of a quarrel if we 
entered upon war, the only way in which we could wipe 
away the stain. My position was now untenable, solely 
because, during his course at the baths, the King, under 
pressure of threats, had given audience to the French Am- 
bassador for four consecutive days, and had exposed his 
royal person to insolent treatment from this foreign agent 
without ministerial assistance. Through this inclination to 
take state business upon himself in person and alone, the 
King had been forced into a position which I could not 
defend; in my judgment His Majesty while at Ems ought 
to have refused every business communication from the 
French negotiator, who was not on the same footing with 
him, and to have referred him to the department in Berlin. 
The department would then have had to obtain His Maj- 
esty's decision by a representation at Ems, or, if dilatory 
treatment were considered useful, by a report in writing. 
But His Majesty, however careful in his usual respect for 
departmental relations, was too fond, not indeed of deciding 
important questions personally, but, at all events, of dis- 
cussing them, to make a proper use of the shelter with which 
the Sovereign is purposely surrounded against importunities 
and inconvenient questionings and demands. That the King, 
considering the consciousness of his supreme dignity which 
he possessed in so high a degree, did not withdraw at the 
very beginning from Benedetti's importunity was to be 
attributed for the most part to the influence exercised upon 
him by the Queen, who was at Coblenz close by. He was 
seventy-three years old, a lover of peace, and disinclined to 
risk the laurels of 1866 in a fresh struggle; but when he was 

68 



JULY 23 TO AUGUST 4, 1914 

free from the feminine influence, the sense of honor of the 
heir of Frederick the Great and of a Prussian officer always 
remained paramount. Against the opposition of his consort, 
due to her natural feminine timidity and lack of national 
feeling, the King's power of resistance was weakened by his 
knightly regard for the lady and his kingly consideration for 
a Queen, and especially for his own Queen. I have been told 
that Queen Augusta implored her husband with tears, before 
his departure from Ems to Berlin, to bear in mind Jena and 
Tilsit and avert war. I consider the statement authentic, 
even to the tears. 

Having decided to resign, in spite of the remonstrances 
which Roon made against it, I invited him and Moltke to 
dine with me alone on the 13th, and communicated to them 
at table my views and projects for doing so. Both were 
greatly depressed, and reproached me indirectly with self- 
ishly availing myself of my greater facility for withdrawing 
from service. I maintained the position that I could not 
offer up my sense of honor to politics, that both of them, 
being professional soldiers and consequently without free- 
dom of choice, need not take the same point of view as a 
responsible Foreign Minister. During the conversation I 
was informed that a telegram from Ems, in cipher, if I recol- 
lect rightly, of about 200 " groups," was being deciphered. 
When the copy was handed to me it showed that Abeken 
had drawn up and signed the telegram at His Majesty's com- 
mand, and I read it out to my guests, whose dejection was 
so great that they turned away from food and drink. On a 
repeated examination of the document I lingered upon the 
authorization of His Majesty, which included a command, 
immediately to communicate Benedetti's fresh demand and 
its rejection both to our ambassadors and to the press. I 
put a few questions to Moltke as to the extent of his confi- 
dence in the state of our preparations, especially as to the 
time they would still require in order to meet this sudden 
risk of war. He answered that if there was to be war he ex- 
pected no advantage to us by deferring its outbreak; and 
even if we should not be strong enough at first to protect all 
the territories on the left bank of the Rhine against French 

69 



OBSTACLES TO PEACE 

invasion, our preparations would nevertheless soon over- 
take those of the French, while at a later period this advan- 
tage would be diminished; he regarded a rapid outbreak as, 
on the whole, more favorable to us than delay. 

I made use of the royal authorization, communicated to 
me through Abeken, to publish the contents of the telegram; 
and in the presence of my two guests I reduced the telegram, 
by striking out words, but without adding or altering, to the 
following form: "After the news of the renunciation of the 
hereditary Prince of Hohenzollern had been officially com- 
municated to the Imperial Government of France by the 
Royal Government of Spain, the French Ambassador at 
Ems made the further demand to His Majesty the King 
that he would authorize him to telegraph to Paris that His 
Majesty the King bound himself for all future time never 
again to give his consent if the Hohenzollerns should renew 
their candidature. His Majesty the King thereupon decided 
not to receive the French Ambassador again, and sent to tell 
him through the aide-de-camp on duty that His Majesty 
had nothing further to communicate to the ambassador." 
The difference in the effect of the abbreviated text of the 
Ems telegram as compared with that produced by the orig- 
inal was not the result of stronger words, but of the form, 
which made this announcement appear decisive, while 
Abeken's version would only have been regarded as a frag- 
ment of a negotiation still pending, and to be continued at 
Berlin. 

After I had read out the concentrated edition to my two 
guests, Moltke remarked: "Now it has a different ring; it 
sounded before like a parley; now it is like a flourish in 
answer to a challenge." I went on to explain: " If in execu- 
tion of His Majesty's order I at once communicate this text, 
which contains no alteration in or addition to the telegram, 
not only to the newspapers, but also by telegraph to all our 
embassies, it will be known in Paris before midnight, and 
not only on account of its contents, but also on account of 
the manner of its distribution, will have the effect of a red 
rag upon the Gallic bull. Fight we must if we do not want to 
act the part of the vanquished without a battle. Success, 

70 



JULY 23 TO AUGUST 4, 1914 

however, essentially depends upon the impression which the 
origination of the war makes upon us and others; it is impor- 
tant that we should be the ones attacked, and this the Gallic 
overweening and touchiness will do for us, if we announce in 
the face of Europe, so far as we can without the speaking- 
tube of the Reichstag, that we fearlessly meet the public 
threats of France." 

This explanation brought about in the two generals a 
revulsion to a more joyous mood, the liveliness of which sur- 
prised me. They had suddenly recovered their pleasure in 
eating and drinking and spoke in a more cheerful vein. Roon 
said: "Our God of old lives still and will not let us perish in 
disgrace." Moltke so far relinquished his passive equanimity 
that, glancing up joyously toward the ceiling and abandon- 
ing his usual punctiliousness of speech, he smote his hand 
upon his breast and said: "If I may but live to lead our 
armies in such a war, then the devil may come directly 
afterwards and fetch away the 'old carcass.'" He was less 
robust at that time than afterwards, and doubted whether 
he would survive the hardships of the campaign. 

How keenly he wanted to put in practice his military and 
strategic tastes and ability I observed not only on this 
occasion, but also in the days before the outbreak of the 
Bohemian War. In both cases I found my military colleague 
in the King's service changed from his usual dry and silent 
habit, cheerful, lively, I might even say merry. 

The following dispatch of Baron Beyens, dated 
July 26, 1914, gives what is probably a fairly accurate 
view of the military opinion in Germany : — 

To justify these conclusions I must remind you of the 
opinion which prevails in the German General Staff, that 
war with France and Russia is unavoidable and near, an 
opinion which the Emperor has been induced to share. Such 
a war, ardently desired by the military and Pan-German 
party, might be underaken to-day, as this party think, in 
circumstances which are extremely favorable to Germany, 
and which probably will not again present themselves for 

71 



OBSTACLES TO PEACE 

some time. Germany has finished the strengthening of her 
army which was decreed by the law of 1912, and, on the 
other hand, she feels that she cannot carry on indefinitely 
a race in armaments with Russia and France which would 
end in her ruin. The Wehrbeitrag has been a disappoint- 
ment for the Imperial Government, to whom it has demon- 
strated the limits of the national wealth. Russia has made 
the mistake of making a display of her strength before hav- 
ing finished her military reorganization. That strength will 
not be formidable for several years : at the present moment 
it lacks the railway lines necessary for its deployment. As 
to France, M. Charles Humbert has revealed her deficiency 
in guns of large caliber, but apparently it is this arm that 
will decide the fate of battles. For the rest, England, which 
during the last two years Germany has been trying, not 
without some success, to detach from France and Russia, is 
paralyzed by internal dissensions and her Irish quarrels. 

An extremely judicial analysis is made by M. P. 
Price in his book, "The Diplomatic History of the 
War" (Scribner's, 1915), as follows: — 

On the other hand, there is evidence to the effect that 
during the negotiations after the Austrian note to Servia, 
Germany, however stupidly and supinely she handled the 
Austro-Servian dispute, was fully alive to the danger to 
Europe of a Russo-Austrian conflict. Thus the telegrams 
passing between the London, Berlin, St. Petersburg, and 
Paris Foreign Offices show that although Germany refused 
Sir Edward Grey's suggestion of a four power ambassadorial 
conference in London, nevertheless she supported the medi- 
ation of four powers not immediately concerned at Vienna 
and St. Petersburg, with a view to inducing Austria and 
Russia to come to terms with each other. Indeed, Germany 
was on more than one occasion the means of conveying to 
Austria proposals concerning the need of moderation in 
Vienna and about the guarantees which Servia could reason- 
ably be expected to give. (British White Book, Nos. 18, 95, 
98.) The pressure brought to bear on Austria by Germany 

72 



JULY 23 TO AUGUST 4, 1914 

during the last few days of negotiations is also seen in the 
German " Denkschrift." In addition to these, numerous 
British press correspondents in Berlin and St. Petersburg, 
between July 25 and 30, show that Germany, so far from 
being an instigator, was doing all she could, having regard 
to the difficult position in which she was placed, to make her 
ally come to terms with Russia. 

Germany's great initial blunder was that she refused to 
regard the Austro-Servian dispute as one that concerned any 
other but those two countries, and would not recognize the 
claim of Russia to be consulted about the fate of Servia. 
Hence her interpretation of four power mediation was not 
the same as Russia's. She wanted mediation to aim at secur- 
ing for Austria a " free hand." Russia wanted mediation 
which would give her a chance of settling the Servian ques- 
tion according to her ideas. 

I had a talk with Mr. A. G. Gardiner, editor of the 
London "Daily News," as to some statements he made 
about Von Bethmann-Hollweg and Sir Edward Grey. 
He assured me that he had sure sources of information, 
as to which he said (I quote Mr. Gardiner's exact 
words) : — 

It is said, on such high authority that the statement is 
entitled to respect, that on the fatal Saturday when he signed 
the declaration of war against Russia the Kaiser, having 
written his signature, threw the pen across the table and 
said, to the triumphant soldiers around him, " Gentlemen, 
you will live to regret this." 

It is the opinion of those in this country most intimate 
with the inner history of the diplomatic struggle that cul- 
minated in the war that both the Kaiser and his Chancellor 
wanted peace. 

" Let us be just to Bethmann-Hollweg," said a distin- 
guished Foreign Office representative when the conduct of 
the Chancellor was being criticized. " You see only his fail- 
ure. We have seen when he has not failed — when he has 

73 



OBSTACLES TO PEACE 

fought for peace and won. He fought for peace this time 
but lost." 

A change came when Baron Marschall von Bieberstein 
superseded Metternich, and when a little later (on the 
Baron's death) Prince Lichnowsky came, with his gentle 
manner and obvious frankness of purpose. It seemed then, 
especially with the successful cooperation of England and 
Germany during the Balkan wars, that the danger-point in 
the relations of the two peoples was passed, and Sir Edward 
Grey was clearly moving with strong hope toward an under- 
standing with Germany. 

Sir Edward Grey's efforts for peace during the last fatal 
week of July are on record, and no one who saw him in the 
House during those thrilling days can doubt either his sur- 
prise at the sudden blow or his passionate desire to save 
Europe from the coming disaster. When some one met him 
after his speech of August 3, and rather ineptly offered his 
congratulations, he turned away with the remark, " This is 
the saddest day of my life." I am told at the Cabinet council 
next morning more than one minister broke down under the 
dreadful strain, and that Sir Edward Grey was among them. 
But, indeed, there were more tears shed in England in those 
tragic days than ever before. And they were not tears of 
weakness but of unspeakable grief. 

Lord Haldane told me that for the first two months 
of the war he saw Sir Edward Grey almost daily. Sir 
Edward Grey made his home at Lord Haldane's house. 
Lord Haldane told me that during those months Sir 
Edward Grey lived in Gethsemane. 

Von Bethmann-Hollweg has been continually at- 
tacked in Germany for his pre-war pacific policy. An 
anonymous pamphleteer made these charges which 
were finally taken up in the Reichstag : — 

Concerning the activities of the Chancellor immediately 
before the war, known to us from published dispatches and 
notes, it is unnecessary to speak in detail. It is plain that, 

74 



JULY 23 TO AUGUST 4, 1914 

taken as a whole, his untiring efforts up to the very last hour, 
regardless of military happenings, were directed to prevent 
at any price the long unavoidable war. In vain were the 
warnings of the General Staff, the Minister of War, and men 
of authority in the naval department pointed to the neces- 
sity of mobilization. They succeeded in half convincing the 
Emperor of its absolute necessity. On Thursday, July 30, 
the afternoon police papers and the Berlin " Lokal Anzeiger " 
published the fact of the mobilization, but the interference 
of Von Bethmann-Hollweg served to nullify this decisive 
action. 

If ever there was a time in a decisive hour when the task 
of responsible military leaders has been rendered nearly 
impossible, it was before the outbreak of this war, when 
Germany faced a fight for her very existence, and that is the 
fault of her leading statesman. No condemnation can be 
severe enough for much unnecessary blood that has been 
shed due to the policy of this political sleepwalker. 

Von Bethmann-Hollweg replied to this attack by a 
speech in the Reichstag which is reported in a Berlin 
dispatch by the Associated Press : — 

Berlin, June 5, 1916. — One of the most stirring pass- 
ages of the speech came when the Chancellor replied to a 
pamphleteer's charge that in the opening days of the war he 
had believed England would have remained Germany's 
friend, or at least neutral, and that he had wasted three days 
parleying with England, three days which meant an enor- 
mous prolongation of the war because the first blow was not 
struck promptly enough. 

I know that my attempts at an understanding with 
England [said the Chancellor] are my capital offense, 
but what was Germany's position prior to the war? 
France and Russia were united in an indissoluble alli- 
ance. There was a strong anti-German party in Russia 
and an influential and growing section in France which 
was urging revenge and war. Russia could be held in 
check only if the hope of English aid was successfully 

75 



OBSTACLES TO PEACE 

taken from them. They would then have never ven- 
tured on war. If I wished to work against war I had to 
attempt to enter into relationships with England. 

I am not ashamed of my conduct, even though it 
proved abortive. He who on that account charges me 
with being the cause of the world-catastrophe, with its 
hecatombs of human sacrifices, may make his accusa- 
tion before God. I shall await God's judgment calmly, 
[Extract.] 

There is no doubt that Von Bethmann-Hollwog, 
Herr Zimmermann, and the Kaiser were opposed to 
war. The military chiefs based their decision on the 
dangers arising from Russia's mobilization. 

On the other hand [writes G. Lowes Dickinson, referring 
to Russia's mobilization], it must be remembered that in 
1909 Austria had mobilized against Servia and Montenegro, 
and in 1912-13 Russia and Austria had mobilized against 
each other without war ensuing in either case. Moreover, 
in view of the slowness of Russian mobilization, it is difficult 
to believe that a day or two would make the difference be- 
tween security and ruin to Germany. However, it is possible 
that the Kaiser was so advised by his soldiers, and genuinely 
believed the country to be in danger. We do not definitely 
know. What we do know is, that it was the German ultima- 
tum that precipitated the war. 

We are informed, however, by Baron Beyens that 
even at the last moment the German Foreign Office 
made one more effort for peace. Baron Beyens says : — 

As no reply had been received from St. Petersburg by 
noon the next day (after the dispatch of the German ulti- 
matum), MM. de Jagow and Zimmermann (I have it from 
the latter) hurried to the Chancellor and the Kaiser to pre- 
vent the issue of the order for general mobilization, and 
to persuade His Majesty to wait till the following day. It 
was the last effort of their dying pacifism, or the last awak- 

76 



JULY 23 TO AUGUST 4, 1914 

ening of their conscience. Their efforts were broken against 
the irreducible obstinacy of the Minister of War and the 
army chiefs, who represented to the Kaiser the disastrous 
consequences of a delay of twenty-four hours. 



CHAPTER V 

WHY DID ENGLAND ENTER THE WAR? 

There is such a strong impression that this war is at 
bottom a war between England and Germany that one 
forgets that the cause of the war was very remote 
from England. 

Sir Edward Grey, in a dispatch, July 24, to the 
British Ambassador at Vienna, said : — 

The merits of the dispute between Austria and Servia 
were not the concern of His Majesty's Government. 

And in a dispatch, July 27, to the British Ambassa- 
dor at Vienna, Sir Edward Grey reports a conversation 
with Count MensdorfT, in which he said: — 

If they could make war on Servia and at the same time 
satisfy Russia, well and good; but, if not, the consequences 
would be incalculable. 

England's interest in the Servian question was 
wholly as it might affect the peace of Europe. 

At the outbreak of the war England was allied with 
Japan and Portugal. She had a naval agreement with 
France. Inasmuch as France had massed her navy in 
the Mediterranean so that England might concen- 
trate her fleet in the North Sea, England had agreed, 
in case France became involved in war, to protect her 
northern coasts. The actual relation of England to 
Russia and France is clearly stated by Prince von 
Biilow in the new edition of his book, "Imperial 
Germany." In his earlier edition he said: — 

78 



WHY DID ENGLAND ENTER THE WAR? 

Owing to her alliance with France, and the complications 
in the East, Russia has often supported the Anglo-French 
Entente, so that we are justified in speaking of a Triple 
Entente as a counterpart to the Triple Alliance. 

In his new edition, published since the beginning of 
the war, he adds : — 

However, it was not till the outbreak of war that the 
Triple Entente became a solid coalition. As late as April 24, 
1914, Baron Beyens, the Belgian Minister in Berlin, stated 
in connection with the rumor that the Russian Ambassador 
in Paris, M. Iswolski, was to be transferred to London, that 
M. Iswolski would be able to convince himself there that 
public opinion in England had not the slightest desire to see 
England lose her freedom of action by a formal treaty which 
would bind her fate to that of Russia and France. It was the 
London Protocol of September 5, 1914, that changed the 
hitherto more or less loose connection between the three 
powers into a close alliance. 

When the war broke out, it was an anxious and 
terrible question in France as to what England would 
do. And as the days passed and France faced her 
critical hour, the uncertainty as to England became 
agonizing. 

The general feeling the world over of those who 
favored France and were friendly to Great Britain was 
expressed by Admiral Mahan during the days after 
war was declared, and while England still remained 
out. I quote from a dispatch to the London "Times," 
dated New York, August 3, 1914: — 

In a highly important interview to-night, Rear-Admiral 
Mahan declared that England must at once throw her pre- 
ponderating fleet against Germany for the chief purpose of 
maintaining her own position as a world-power. For Eng- 
land, Admiral Mahan said, it was a question, if she remained 

79 



OBSTACLES TO PEACE 

out of the war, of sacrificing her empire in the next genera- 
tion to the interest of this generation. 

Knowing from past experience how the matter must be 
viewed by Russia, it is incredible that Austria would have 
ventured on the ultimatum unless she was assured before- 
hand of the consent of Germany to it. The moment was 
auspicious for striking down France and Russia before they 
regained their full strength. 

Great Britain, as the third member of the Entente, finds 
herself in the position of Prussia in 1805, when she permitted 
Napoleon to strike down Austria unaided and was herself 
struck down the following year at Jena, or in that of France 
in 1866, when she stood by while Prussia crushed Austria 
and was herself overwhelmed in 1870. Germany's procedure 
is to overwhelm at once by concentrated preparation and 
impetuous momentum. 

In my judgment a right appreciation of the situation 
should determine Great Britain to declare war at once, 
otherwise her Entente engagements, whatever the letter, 
will be in spirit violated, and she will earn the entire distrust 
of all probable future allies. 

It will be remembered that the Haldane mission of 
1912 failed because the German Government wanted 
a treaty, by which the British Government believed 
that "while Germany in case of a European conflict 
would have remained free to support her friends, 
England would have been forbidden to raise a finger 
in defense of hers." 

On Saturday the 25th of July, 1914, the Austrian 
note to Servia was known in the chancelleries of 
Europe. On the following Wednesday, July 29, we 
have from Sir Edward Grey the first intimation as 
to the possibility of England's participation in the 
war. 

To M. Cambon, the French Ambassador in London, 
he said : — 

80 



WHY DID ENGLAND ENTER THE WAR? 

Sir Edward Grey to Sir F. Bertie y British Ambassador at Paris 

Foreign Office, July 29, 191£. 

Sir: 

After telling M. Cambon to-day how grave the situation 
seemed to be, I told him that I meant to tell the German 
Ambassador to-day that he must not be misled by the 
friendly tone of our conversations into any sense of false 
security that we should stand aside if all the efforts to pre- 
serve the peace, which we were now making in common with 
Germany, failed. But I went on to say to M. Cambon that 
I thought it necessary to tell him also that public opinion 
here approached the present difficulty from a quite different 
point of view from that taken during the difficulty as to 
Morocco a few years ago. ... In the present case the dispute 
between Austria and Servia was not one in which we felt 
called to take a hand. Even if the question became one 
between Austria and Russia we should not feel called upon 
to take a hand in it. . . . If Germany became involved and 
France became involved, we had not made up our minds 
what we should do; it was a case that we should have to 
consider. France would then have been drawn into a quarrel 
which was not hers, but in which, owing to her alliance, her 
honor and interest obliged her to engage. We were free from 
engagements, and we should have to decide what British 
interests required us to do. I thought it necessary to say 
that, because, as he knew, we were taking all precautions 
with regard to our fleet, and I was about to warn Prince 
Lichnowsky not to count on our standing aside, but it 
would not be fair that I should let M. Cambon be misled 
into supposing that this meant that we had decided what to 
do in a contingency that I still hoped might not arise. 

M. Cambon said that I had explained the situation very 
clearly. He understood it to be that in a Balkan quarrel, 
and in a struggle for supremacy between Teuton and Slav, 
we should not feel called to intervene; should other issues be 
raised, and Germany and France become involved, so that 
the question became one of the hegemony of Europe, we 
should then decide what it was necessary for us to do. He 

81 



OBSTACLES TO PEACE 

seemed quite prepared for this announcement, and made no 
criticism upon it. 

I quote so fully because it is such a clear exposition 
of England's attitude toward French interests. On 
the same day Sir Edward Grey made a statement on 
similar lines to the German Ambassador in London, 
discussing the European situation with reference to 
England's position. 1 

I give the complete dispatch, No. 89 : — 

Sir E. Grey to Sir E. Goschen, British Ambassador at Berlin 

Foreign Office, July 29, 19U. 

Sir: 

After speaking to the German Ambassador this afternoon 
about the European situation, I said that I wished to say to 
him, in a quite private and friendly way, something that 
was on my mind. The situation was very grave. While it 
was restricted to the issues at present actually involved we 
had no thought of interfering in it. But if Germany became 
involved in it, and then France, the issue might be so great 
that it would involve all European interests; and I did not 
wish him to be misled by the friendly tone of our conversa- 
tion — which I hoped would continue — into thinking that 
we should stand aside. 

He said that he quite understood this, but he asked 
whether I meant that we should, under certain circum- 
stances, intervene? 

I replied that I did not wish to say that, or to use anything 
that was like a threat or an attempt to apply pressure by 
saying that, if things became worse, we should intervene. 
There would be no question of our intervening if Germany 
was not involved, or even if France was not involved. But 
we knew very well, that if the issue did become such that we 
thought British interests required us to intervene, we must 
intervene at once, and the decision would have to be very 

1 British White Book, No. 88. 

82 



WHY DID ENGLAND ENTER THE WAR? 

rapid, just as the decisions of other powers had to be. I 
hoped that the friendly tone of our conversations would 
continue as at present, and that I should be able to keep as 
closely in touch with the German Government in working 
for peace. But if we failed in our efforts to keep the peace, 
and if the issue spread so that it involved practically every 
European interest, I did not wish to be open to any reproach 
from him that the friendly tone of all our conversations had 
misled him or his Government into supposing that we should 
not take action, and to the reproach that, if they had not 
been so misled, the course of things might have been dif- 
ferent. 

The German Ambassador took no exception to what I had 
said; indeed, he told me that it accorded with what he had 
already given in Berlin as his view of the situation. 

I am, &c. 

E. Grey. 

The most ominous dispatch up to this time is one 
dated, the same day, Berlin, July 29, from the British 
Ambassador in Berlin to Sir Edward Grey. It reports 
the interview with Von Bethmann-Hollweg after the 
fateful meeting at Potsdam : — 

Sir E. Goschen, British Ambassador at Berlin, to Sir E. Grey 

(Received July 29) 

(Telegraphic.) Berlin, July 29, 191&. 

I was asked to call upon the Chancellor to-night. His 
Excellency had just returned from Potsdam. 

He said that should Austria be attacked by Russia a 
European conflagration might, he feared, become inevitable, 
owing to Germany's obligations as Austria's ally, in spite of 
his continued efforts to maintain peace. He then proceeded 
to make the following strong bid for British neutrality. He 
said that it was clear, so far as he was able to judge the main 
principle which governed British policy, that Great Britain 
would never stand by and allow France to be crushed in any 

83 



OBSTACLES TO PEACE 

conflict there might be. That, however, was not the object 
at which Germany aimed. Provided that neutrality of Great 
Britain were certain, every assurance would be given to the 
British Government that the Imperial Government aimed 
at no territorial acquisitions at the expense of France should 
they prove victorious in any war that might ensue. 

I questioned His Excellency about the French colonies, 
and he said that he was unable to give a similar undertaking 
in that respect. As regards Holland, however, His Excellency 
said that, so long as Germany's adversaries respected the 
integrity and neutrality of the Netherlands, Germany was 
ready to give His Majesty's Government an assurance that 
she would do likewise. It depended upon the action of France 
what operations Germany might be forced to enter upon 
in Belgium, but when the war was over, Belgian integrity 
would be respected if she had not sided against Germany. 

His Excellency ended by saying that ever since he had 
been Chancellor the object of his policy had been, as you 
were aware, to bring about an understanding with England; 
he trusted that these assurances might form the basis of that 
understanding which he so much desired. He had in mind a 
general neutrality agreement between England and Ger- 
many, though it was of course at the present moment too 
early to discuss details, and an assurance of British neutral- 
ity in the conflict which present crisis might possibly pro- 
duce, would enable him to look forward to realization of his 
desire. 

To this telegram Sir Edward Grey replied on Thurs- 
day, July 30, 1914: — 

Sir E. Grey to Sir E. Goschen, British Ambassador at Berlin 

(Telegraphic.) Foreign Office, July SO, 191k- 

Your telegram of 29th July. 

His Majesty's Government cannot for a moment entertain 
the Chancellor's proposal that they should bind themselves 
to neutrality on such terms. 

What he asks us in effect is to engage to stand by while 

84 






WHY DID ENGLAND ENTER THE WAR? 

French colonies are taken and France is beaten so long as 
Germany does not take French territory as distinct from the 
colonies. 

From the material point of view such a proposal is unac- 
ceptable, for France, without further territory in Europe 
being taken from her, could be so crushed as to lose her posi- 
tion as a great power, and become subordinate to German 
policy. 

Altogether apart from that, it would be a disgrace for us 
to make this bargain with Germany at the expense of France, 
a disgrace from which the good name of this country would 
never recover. 

The Chancellor also in effect asks us to bargain away 
whatever obligation or interest we have as regards the neu- 
trality of Belgium. We could not entertain that bargain 
either. 

It is difficult to see how the British Government 
could have taken a different stand on this point. 

In the same dispatch Sir Edward Grey makes a very 
strong bid for peace in these words : — 

And I will say this: If the peace of Europe can be pre- 
served, and the present crisis safely passed, my own 
endeavor will be to promote some arrangement to which 
Germany could be a party, by which she could be assured 
that no aggressive or hostile policy would be pursued against 
her or her allies by France, Russia, and ourselves, jointly or 
separately. I have desired this and worked for it, as far as I 
could, through the last Balkan crisis, and, Germany having 
a corresponding object, our relations sensibly improved. The 
idea has hitherto been too Utopian to form the subject of 
definite proposals, but if this present crisis, so much more 
acute than any that Europe has gone through for genera- 
tions, be safely passed, I am hopeful that the relief and 
reaction which will follow may make possible some more 
definite rapprochement between the powers than has been 
possible hitherto. 

85 



OBSTACLES TO PEACE 

On the same day, July 30, Sir Edward Grey tele- 
graphs to the British Ambassador in Berlin, this warn- 
ing to Germany : — 

I have warned Prince Lichnowsky that Germany must 
not count upon our standing aside in all circumstances. 

Again, on the same day, July 30, Sir Edward Grey 
makes reference to a letter he had written two years 
ago to the French Ambassador in London, M. Cambon, 
"in which we agreed that if the peace of Europe was 
seriously threatened, we wottld discuss what we were 
prepared to do." 

Still Sir Edward Grey persisted in his efforts for 
peace, and on Friday, July 31, he telegraphed to the 
British Ambassador in Berlin a dispatch in which he 
used these words : — 

I said to German Ambassador this morning that if Ger- 
many could get any reasonable proposal put forward, which 
made it clear that Germany and Austria were striving to 
preserve European peace, and that Russia and France would 
be unreasonable if they rejected it, I would support it at St. 
Petersburg and Paris, and go the length of saying that if 
Russia and France would not accept it His Majesty's Gov- 
ernment would have nothing more to do with the conse- 
quences; but, otherwise, I told German Ambassador that if 
France became involved we should be drawn in. [Extract.] 

This was the nearest approach to a threat that Sir 
Edward Grey used. He refused to encourage Russia 
and France. He worked solely for peace. 

Germany and Austria failed to understand Russia. 

In a dispatch, July 26, 1914, from the British Am- 
bassador at Vienna to Sir Edward Grey, reporting a 
conversation with the German Ambassador at Vienna, 
he says : — 

86 



WHY DID ENGLAND ENTER THE WAR? 

According to confident belief of German Ambassador, 
Russia will keep quiet during chastisement of Servia, which 
Austria-Hungary is resolved to inflict, having received 
assurances that no Servian territory will be annexed by 
Austria-Hungary. . . . The Russian Minister for Foreign 
Affairs would not, His Excellency thought, be so impru- 
dent as to take a step which would probably result in 
many frontier questions in which Russia is interested, such 
as Swedish, Polish, Ruthene, Rumanian, and Persian ques- 
tions, being brought into the melting-pot. France, too, was 
not at all in a condition for facing a war. 

And on July 28 the Austrian Ambassador in Berlin 
informed Sir Edward Goschen "that a general war 
was most unlikely, as Russia neither wanted nor was 
in a position to make war." The British Ambassador 
believed that the same opinion was shared by many 
people in Berlin. 

Sir R. Rodd, British Ambassador in Rome, in a 
dispatch, July 29, said that the Italian Foreign Min- 
ister stated "that there seemed to be a difficulty in 
making Germany believe that Russia was in earnest." 

Baron Bey ens records a conversation with his col- 
league, M. Bollati, the Italian Ambassador at Berlin 
in which the latter took the view that 

At Vienna as at Berlin they were persuaded that Russia, 
in spite of the official assurances exchanged quite recently 
between the Tsar and M. Poincare, as to the complete 
preparations of the armies of the two allies, was not in a 
position to sustain a European war and would not dare to 
plunge into so perilous an adventure. 

Baron Beyens continues : — 

At Berlin the opinion that Russia was unable to face a 
European war prevailed not only in the official world and 
in society, but among all the manufacturers who specialized 

87 



OBSTACLES TO PEACE 

in the construction of armaments. M. Krupp, the best qual- 
ified among them to express an opinion, announced on the 
28th July, at a table next mine at the Hotel Bristol, that the 
Russian artillery was neither good nor complete, while that 
of the German army had never been of such superior quality. 
It would be folly on the part of Russia, the great maker of 
guns concluded, to dare to make war on Germany and 
Austria under these conditions. 

Austria-Hungary, backed by Germany, evidently 
felt that the chances for war with Russia were slight. 

The extremely well-informed journalist, Dr. E. J. 
Dillon, telegraphed on August 4 to the London "Daily 
Telegraph" the beliefs in Vienna in these words: — 

Even the Government here did not expect that events 
would take the course which all Europe is now deploring. 
They certainly recognized it as a contingency to be reckoned 
with, and they accordingly prepared for it. But they en- 
tertained hopes that a conflict would be restricted to the 
Balkan Peninsula. 

In his speech before the Reichstag on December 2, 
1914, Von Bethmann-Hollweg makes this statement : — 

In spite of all protestations of peace London gave it to be 
understood in Petrograd that she was taking her stand on the 
side of France and Russia. This is proved clearly and incon- 
testably by the publications of the various Cabinets, and 
especially by that of the English Blue Book itself. Then, 
indeed, it was impossible to hold things back in Petro- 
grad. 

On this question we possess a witness who is entirely 
above suspicion, the report of the Belgian Charge d' Affaires 
in Petrograd, written on July 30. He reports: "To-day in 
Petrograd the people are firmly convinced, indeed they have 
assurances, that England will stand by France. This support 
has an extraordinary influence, and has done not a little to 
gain the upper hand for the war party." 

88 



WHY DID ENGLAND ENTER THE WAR? 

If the statement of July 30, of the Belgian Charge 
d' Affaires is correct, how can we account for this letter 
from the President of the French Republic to King 
George? 

Letter from the French President to King George 

Paris, July 31, 1914 

From all the information which reaches us, it would seem 
that war would be inevitable if Germany were convinced 
that the British Government would not intervene in a con- 
flict in which France might be engaged; if, on the other hand, 
Germany were convinced that the entente cordiale would be 
affirmed, in case of need, even to the extent of taking the 
field side by side, there would be the greatest chance that 
peace would remain unbroken. [Extract.] 

Or how can we account for the reply from King 
George to the French President? 

Letter from King George to the French President 

Buckingham Palace, August 1, 1914. 

It would be a source of real satisfaction to me if our 
united efforts were to meet with success, and I am still not 
without hope that the terrible events which seem so near 
may be averted. 

I am personally using my best endeavors with the Emper- 
ors of Russia and Germany towards finding some solution 
by which actual military operations may at any rate be post- 
poned, and time be thus given for calm discussion between 
the powers. I intend to prosecute these efforts without inter- 
mission so long as any hope remains of an amicable settle- 
ment. 

As to the attitude of my country, events are changing so 
rapidly that it is difficult to forecast future developments; 
but you may be assured that my Government will continue 

89 



OBSTACLES TO PEACE 



to discuss freely and frankly any point which might arise of 
interest to our two nations with M. Cambon. 

Believe me, 

M. le President, 
(Signed) George R.I. 

The actual situation is given in the following : — 



Sir Edward Grey to Sir F. Bertie, British Ambassador at Paris 

Foreign Office, July SI, 191%. 
Sir: 

M. Cambon referred to-day to a telegram that had been 
shown to Sir Arthur Nicolson [British Under-Secretary of 
State for Foreign Affairs] this morning from the French 
Ambassador in Berlin, saying that it was the uncertainty 
with regard to whether we would intervene which was the 
encouraging element in Berlin, and that, if we would only 
declare definitely on the side of Russia and France, it would 
decide the German attitude in favor of peace. 

M. Cambon then asked me for my reply to what he had 
said yesterday. 

I said that we had come to the conclusion, in the Cabinet 
to-day, that we could not give any pledge at the present 
time. Though we should have to put our policy before Par- 
liament, we could not pledge Parliament in advance. Up to 
the present moment, we did not feel, and public opinion did 
not feel, that any treaties or obligations of this country were 
involved. Further developments might alter this situation 
and cause the Government and Parliament to take the view 
that intervention was justified. The preservation of the 
neutrality of Belgium might be, I would not say a decisive, 
but an important factor, in determining our attitude. 
Whether we proposed to Parliament to intervene or not to 
intervene in a war, Parliament would wish to know how we 
stood with regard to the neutrality of Belgium, and it might 
be that I should ask both France and Germany whether 
each was prepared to undertake an engagement that she 
would not be the first to violate the neutrality of Belgium. 

90 






WHY DID ENGLAND ENTER THE WAR? 

M. Cambon repeated his question whether we would help 
France if Germany made an attack on her. 

I said that I could only adhere to the answer that, as far 
as things had gone at present, we could not take any engage- 
ment. [Extract.] 

On the 29th of July, Sir Edward Grey had informed 
the German Ambassador in London that there would 
be no question of England intervening if France was 
not involved. But that if they thought British inter- 
ests were involved, England must intervene at once. 
And in a statement in the House of Commons, 
August 27, 1914, Sir Edward Grey said: — 

The Cabinet did, however, consider most carefully the 
next morning — that is, Sunday, August 2 — the conditions 
on which we could remain neutral, and came to the conclu- 
sion that respect for the neutrality of Belgium must be one 
of these conditions. The German Chancellor had already 
been told on July 30th that we could not bargain that way. 
[Extract.] 

To get England's point of view, one must read the 
dispatch Sir Edward Grey sent to the British Ambassa- 
dor at Berlin on July 30, 1914, printed in this chapter. 
And also the dispatch sent by Von Bethmann-Hollweg 
on July 30 to the Austrian Government, and first made 
public in the Reichstag November 9, 1916, printed in 
the chapter entitled "The Thirteen Days." 

In his communications to France and Russia, Sir 
Edward Grey said in substance: "If there is war, we 
cannot promise to help you," and to Germany and 
Austria, "If there is war, we cannot promise to stand 
aside." 

Germany always insisted that Austria-Hungary 
must have a free hand to war on Servia, and that 

91 



OBSTACLES TO PEACE 

England must restrain Russia. At no point did Ger- 
many or Austria-Hungary admit the essentially 
European nature of the conflict. 

The following dispatch reveals another lost oppor- 
tunity for peace on common-sense conditions : — 

Russian Charge* d' Affaires at Berlin to Russian Minister for 

Foreign Affairs 

(Telegram.) Berlin, July U ($7), 19U. 

Before my visit to the Minister for Foreign Affairs to-day 
His Excellency had received the French Ambassador, who 
endeavored to induce him to accept the British proposal for 
action in favor of peace, such action to be taken simultane- 
ously at St. Petersburg and at Vienna by Great Britain, 
Germany, Italy, and France. Cambon suggested that these 
powers should give their advice to Vienna in the following 
terms: "To abstain from all action which might aggravate 
the existing situation.'' (S'abstenir de tout acte qui pourrait 
aggraver la situation de Fheure actuelle.) By adopting this 
vague formula, all mention of the necessity of refraining 
from invading Servia might be avoided. Jagow refused 
point-blank to accept this suggestion in spite of the en- 
treaties of the Ambassador, who emphasized, as a good 
feature of the suggestion, the mixed grouping of the powers, 
thanks to which the opposition between the Alliance and 
the Entente — a matter of which Jagow himself had often 
complained — was avoided. 

Again Russia as late as July 31 gives another chance 
for peace : — 

Russian Minister for Foreign Affairs to Russian Ambassadors 
at Berlin, Vienna, Paris, London, and Rome 

(Telegram.) St. Petersburg, July 18 (31), 19U. 

Please refer to my telegram of 17 (30) July. The British 
Ambassador, on the instructions of his Government, has 
informed me of the wish of the London Cabinet to make 

92 



WHY DID ENGLAND ENTER THE WAR? 

certain modifications in the formula which I suggested yes- 
terday to the German Ambassador. I replied that I accepted 
the British suggestion. I accordingly send you the text of 
the modified formula which is as follows : — 

" If Austria consents to stay the march of her troops on 
Servian territory; and if, recognizing that the Austro- 
Servian conflict has assumed the character of a question of 
European interest, she admits that the great powers may 
examine the satisfaction which Servia can accord to the 
Austro-Hungarian Government without injury to her rights 
as a sovereign State or her independence, Russia under- 
takes to maintain her waiting attitude." 

Can any one say, after reading this dispatch, that 
Sir Edward Grey did not use his influence on Russia 
wisely? 

But* at no time would Austria-Hungary or Germany 
agree to the suspension of hostilities against Servia. 

On July 29 the Austrian Minister for Foreign Affairs 
asked the German Government to take a threatening 
attitude toward Russia for the latter's partial mobili- 
zation, as is seen from the following dispatch : — 

Count Berchtold to Count Szogyeny at Berlin 

(Telegraphic.) Vienna, July 29, 191$. 

As a last effort to maintain the peace of Europe, I con- 
sider it desirable that our representative and the representa- 
tive of Germany at St. Petersburg, and, if necessary, at 
Paris, should at once be instructed to declare to the Govern- 
ments to whom they are accredited, in a friendly manner, 
that the continuance of the Russian mobilization would 
have as a result counter-measures in Germany and Austria- 
Hungary, which must lead to serious consequences. 

Your Excellency will add that, as can be understood, in 
our military operations against Servia we will not allow 
ourselves to be diverted from our path. 

The Imperial and Royal Ambassadors at St. Petersburg 

93 



OBSTACLES TO PEACE 






and Paris are receiving identical instructions to make the 
above declaration as soon as their German colleague receives 
similar instructions. 

It will be seen that this "last effort" to maintain 
peace insisted that Austria must continue her opera- 
tions against Servia. This was the immovable deter- 
mination from the first, 

The German White Book contains a statement 
issued by the German Foreign Office, dated Berlin, 
August, 1914, from which I make the following extract, 
which again explains the fundamental difficulty in pre- 
venting war: — 

Foreign Office, Berlin, August, 191£. 

Under these circumstances it was clear to Austria that it 
was not compatible with the dignity and the spirit of self- 
preservation of the Monarchy to view idly any longer this 
agitation across the border. The Imperial and Royal 
Government apprised Germany of this conception and 
asked for our opinion. With all our heart we were able to 
agree with our ally's estimate of the situation and assure him 
that any action considered necessary to end the movement 
in Servia directed against the conservation of the Monarchy 
would meet with our approval. 

We were perfectly aware that a possible warlike attitude 
of Austria-Hungary against Servia might bring Russia upon 
the field, and that it might therefore involve us in a war, in 
accordance with our duty as allies. 

How Russia worked for peace is set forth in the 
following statement : — 

Announcement by the Russian Minister for Foreign Affairs 
respecting Recent Events 

July 20 {August 2), 19U. 

Simultaneously, the Russian Government declared that 
Russia was ready to continue discussions with a view to a 

94 



WHY DID ENGLAND ENTER THE WAR? 

peaceful settlement of the dispute, either in the form of 
direct negotiations with Vienna or, as suggested by Great 
Britain, in the form of a conference of the four great powers 
not directly interested; that is to say, Great Britain, France, 
Germany, and Italy. 

Nevertheless, Russia did not abandon her efforts for peace. 
When questioned by the German Ambassador as to the 
conditions on which we would still agree to suspend our 
preparations, the Minister for Foreign Affairs declared that 
these conditions were Austria's recognition that the Austro- 
Servian question had assumed a European character, and 
a declaration by her that she agreed not to insist upon such 
of her demands as were incompatible with the sovereign 
rights of Servia. 

Germany considered this Russian proposal unacceptable 
to Austria-Hungary. At that very moment news of the 
proclamation of general mobilization by Austria-Hungary 
reached St. Petersburg. 

In the extracts I made in chapter 14 from the article 
introductory to the dispatches from the Belgian Min- 
isters at Berlin, London, and Paris, 1905 to 1914, there 
are the most bewildering statements, assuming that 
England had craftily engineered a war on Germany. 

This was in no sense England's war. England, 
Russia, France, and Italy wanted the trouble between 
Austria-Hungary and Servia to be settled by a con- 
ference of England, Germany, France, and Italy. 
Germany wanted England to restrain Russia while she 
gave Austria a free hand. 

England could influence Russia to submit to arbi- 
tration. She could not restrain Russia from declaring 
war against Austria, unless Austria would suspend her 
war against Servia. It would have been easier for Ger- 
many to have restrained Austria from declaring war 
on Servia. This Germany found to be impossible. 

95 



OBSTACLES TO PEACE 

I conclude that the German Government tried to 
avoid war. That Von Bethmann-Hollweg, Herr von 
Jagow, and Herr Zimmermann, supported by the 
Kaiser, worked for peace. They failed because they 
tried the impossible (permitting Austria to war on 
Servia and expecting Russia to remain quiescent). 
They tried the impossible because they did not under- 
stand the psychology of other nations — what Bis- 
marck called the "imponderables." They believed with 
the Austro-Hungarian Government that a firm atti- 
tude would restrain Russia, just as their military chiefs 
believe that terrorism is in the long run the most mer- 
ciful policy. 

Nations are often blamed, because their chiefs, min- 
isters, or ambassadors fail by misjudging what will be 
the effect of certain words or acts on the minds of other 
peoples. Bismarck was a master in dealing with the 
public opinion of other nations. George Washington, 
Benjamin Franklin, Charles Francis Adams, United 
States Minister to England during the Civil War, John 
Hay, Elihu Root, Theodore Roosevelt, were all masters 
in this field. 

I was constantly told in Germany that the Germans 
did not know how to present their case to the world as 
well as their enemies. They said, "Our enemies can 
influence the neutrals better than we can." That is 
true, but the reason is not what Germany thinks. 
Germany failed so largely to win the approval of the 
neutral world because her words and her acts had a 
different influence from what she expected. The 
German officials expected different results from their 
policy. 

Before Austria sent the note to Servia, the German 

96 



WHY DID ENGLAND ENTER THE WAR? w 

Government took a position that showed an incredible 
misunderstanding of the effect of the note on Russia. 
The views of Von Jagow are given in this dispatch : — 

Sir H. Rumbold, British Charge d' Affaires at Berlin, to 
Sir Edward Grey (Received July 22) 

(Telegraphic.) Berlin, July 22, 1914. 

Last night I met Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, 
and the forthcoming Austrian demarche at Belgrade was 
alluded to by His Excellency in the conversation that ensued. 
He insisted that the question at issue was one for settlement 
between Servia and Austria alone, and that there should be 
no interference from outside in the discussions between 
those two countries. He had therefore considered it inad- 
visable that the Austro-Hungarian Government should be 
approached by the German Government on the matter. 
[Extract.] 

The aim of England and the feeling in Russia are 
explained very clearly in the dispatch from the British 
Ambassador in Russia to Sir Edward Grey on Satur- 
day, July 25, as follows : — 

Sir G. Buchanan, British Ambassador at St. Petersburg, to 
Sir Edward Grey (Received July 25) 

(Telegraphic.) St. Petersburg, July 25, 1914. 

On my expressing the earnest hope that Russia would not 
precipitate war by mobilizing until you had had time to 
use your influence in favor of peace, His Excellency assured 
me that Russia had no aggressive intentions, and she would 
take no action until it was forced upon her. Austria's action 
was in reality directed against Russia. She aimed at over- 
throwing the present status quo in the Balkans, and estab- 
lishing her own hegemony there. He did not believe that 
Germany really wanted war, but her attitude was decided 
by ours. If we took our stand firmly with France and Russia 

97 



OBSTACLES TO PEACE 






there would be no war. If we failed them now, rivers of 
blood would flow, and we would in the end be dragged into 
war. 

I said that England could play the role of mediator at 
Berlin and Vienna to better purpose as a friend who, if her 
counsels of moderation were disregarded, might one day be 
converted into an ally, than if she were to declare herself 
Russia's ally at once. His Excellency said that unfortunately 
Germany was convinced that she could count upon our 
neutrality. [Extract.] 

On the same day, Sir Edward Grey urged the same 
advice on the German Ambassador in London, as is 
seen from this dispatch : — 

Sir Edward Grey to Sir H. Rumbold, British Charge d' Affaires 

at Berlin 

(Telegraphic.) Foreign Office, July 25, 191k. 

I impressed upon the Ambassador that, in the event of 
Russian and Austrian mobilization, the participation of 
Germany would be essential to any diplomatic action for 
peace. Alone we could do nothing. [Extract.] 

Still later, on the 27th of July, England is urging 
moderation on Russia, as is seen in a dispatch from 
the British Ambassador in St. Petersburg to Sir 
Edward Grey as follows : — 

Sir G. Buchanan, British Ambassador at St. Petersburg to 
Sir Edward Grey {Received July 27) 

(Telegraphic.) St. Petersburg, July 27, 19U. 

On the Minister for Foreign Affairs questioning me, I told 
him that I had correctly defined the attitude of His Maj- 
esty's Government in my conversation with him, which I 
reported in my telegram of the 24th instant. I added that 
you could not promise to do anything more, and that His 

98 



WHY DID ENGLAND ENTER THE WAR? 

Excellency was mistaken if he believed that the cause of 
peace could be promoted by our telling the German Govern- 
ment that they would have to deal with us as well as with 
Russia and France if they supported Austria by force of 
arms. Their attitude would merely be stiffened by such a 
menace, and we could only induce her to use her influence at 
Vienna to avert war by approaching her in the capacity of a 
friend who was anxious to preserve peace. His Excellency 
must not, if our efforts were to be successful, do anything to 
precipitate a conflict. In these circumstances I trusted that 
the Russian Government would defer mobilization ukase 
for as long as possible, and that troops would not be allowed 
to cross the frontier even when it was issued. [Extract.] 

Sir Edward Grey had already sent his approval of 
the course pursued by the British Ambassador in 
St. Petersburg from the beginning of the negotiations, 
as is seen from this dispatch : — ■ 

Sir Edward Grey to Sir G. Buchanan, British Ambassador at 

St. Petersburg 

(Telegraphic.) Foreign Office, July 25, 191b. 

You spoke quite rightly in very difficult circumstances as 
to the attitude of His Majesty's Government. I entirely 
approve what you said, as reported in your telegram of 
yesterday, and I cannot promise more on behalf of the 
Government. [Extract.] 

Sir Edward Grey explained clearly why Englanc 
went into the war, in his address to Parliament 
August 3 : — 

The issues at stake 

I ask the House, from the point of view of British inter- 
ests, to consider what may be at stake. If France is beaten 
in a struggle of life and death, beaten to her knees, loses her 
position as a great power, becomes subordinate to the will 

99 



OBSTACLES TO PEACE 

and power of one greater than herself, — consequences 
which I do not anticipate, because I am sure that France has 
the power to defend herself with all the energy and ability 
and patriotism which she has shown so often, — still, if that 
were to happen, and if Belgium fell under the same domi- 
nating influence, and then Holland and then Denmark, then 
would not Mr. Gladstone's words come true, that just oppo- 
site to us there would be a common interest against the un- 
measured aggrandizement of any power? 

It may be said, I suppose, that we might stand aside, 
husband our strength, and that, whatever happened in the 
course of this war, at the end of it intervene with effect to 
put things right and to adjust them to our own point of view. 
If in a crisis like this we ran away from those obligations of 
honor and interests as regards the Belgian Treaty, I doubt 
whether, whatever material force we might have at the end, it 
would be of very much value in face of the respect that we 
should have lost. At the end of the war, whether we have 
stood aside or whether we have been engaged in it, I do not 
believe for a moment — even if we had stood aside and re- 
mained aside — that we should be in a position, a material 
position, to use our force decisively to undo what had hap- 
pened in the course of the war, to prevent the whole of the 
west of Europe, opposite to us, if that had been the result of 
the war, falling under the domination of a single power, and 
I am quite sure that our moral position would be such as to 
have lost all respect. 

Sir Edward Grey was largely instrumental in pre- 
serving the peace of Europe during the Balkan wars, 
not merely because he was just, not merely because he 
was conciliatory, not merely because he was truthful, 
but also because he understood the psychology of other 
nations. From the very beginning he saw that if 
Austria persisted in her course a European war was 
almost inevitable. He realized the danger of giving 
either side a free hand so far as England was concerned. 

100 



WHY DID ENGLAND ENTER THE WAR? 

We know from very high sources the impression Sir 
Edward Grey had made on the Governments of Europe. 

In an address in the Reichstag on April 7, 1913, 
Von Bethmann-Hollweg said : — 

Europe will feel grateful to the English Minister of For- 
eign Affairs for the extraordinary ability and spirit of con- 
ciliation with which he conducted the discussions in London, 
and which constantly enabled him to reconcile divergencies 
of view. Germany shares all the more sincerely in this grati- 
tude, because she knows herself to be at one with the aims 
of English policy, and, standing loyally by her allies, has 
labored in the same sense. 

In an address before the Austro-Hungarian Dele- 
gations, in November, 1913, Count Berchtold, the 
Foreign Minister of Austria-Hungary, said : — 

All Europe can find are words of gratitude and recognition 
for Sir Edward Grey, and the distinctly objective course of 
British foreign policy which has greatly assisted in making 
possible the removal of numberless difficulties in the situa- 
tion without serious discord being thereby produced. 

I believe that the verdict of history on the work of 
Sir Edward Grey during the fatal thirteen days will 
rank him as the foremost statesman of his time. 



CHAPTER VI 

WHY DID GERMANY INVADE BELGIUM? 

It would have seemed to a detached and well-informed 
observer on August 1, 1914, that the invasion of 
Belgium by Germany would surely cause England to 
go to war. 

The negotiations of 1912, in which Lord Haldane 
was so active and which are explained in the third 
chapter of this book, revealed very definitely England's 
views as to the neutrality of Belgium. Also, when the 
Franco-Prussian War broke out, in 1870, Her Majesty 
Queen Victoria's Government sent an identical ques- 
tion to the Emperor of France and to the King of 
Prussia, as to whether or not either would violate the 
neutrality of Belgium. Later the British Government 
made an identical treaty with each of the two belliger- 
ents. I give herewith an extract from the treaty be- 
tween Great Britain and Prussia. All the world knew 
that it would be very difficult for the most pacific 
Government to keep England out of a war that in- 
volved the violation of Belgium's neutrality. 

Cooperation of Great Britain with Prussia in case of violation 
of Neutrality of Belgium by France 

Article 1. His Majesty the King of Prussia having de- 
clared that, notwithstanding the Hostilities in which the 
North German Confederation is engaged with France, it is 
his fixed determination to respect the Neutrality of Belgium, 
so long as the same shall be respected by France, Her 
Majesty the Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain 

102 



WHY DID GERMANY INVADE BELGIUM? 

and Ireland on her part declares that, if during the said 
Hostilities the Armies of France should violate that Neu- 
trality, she will be prepared to cooperate with His Prussian 
Majesty for the defence of the same in such a manner as may 
be mutually agreed upon, employing for that purpose her 
Naval and Military Forces to insure its observance, and to 
maintain, in conjunction with His Prussian Majesty, then 
and thereafter, the Independence and Neutrality of Bel- 
gium. 

But could Britain keep out of the war, even if 
Belgium were not in question? Hardly. War breaks 
out. Great Britain during the years of naval competi- 
tion with Germany had massed nearly all her navy in 
the North Sea. France had undertaken to make good 
in the Mediterranean the withdrawal of England's 
warships from thence and, in return, England had 
agreed to protect the northern coasts of France, which 
France had denuded when she massed her naval 
armaments in the Mediterranean. Further, public 
opinion in England would not let England stand 
aside while France was being crushed. 

The moment that war should break out, Germany 
would endeavor to hinder France's export and import 
trade. In a month or two, England must have come in. 
No one can doubt this who remembers the diplomatic 
events of the last two years and a half between the 
United States and Germany. 

If England were sure to enter the war in any event, 
what would be the chances of her coming in earlier if 
Belgium were invaded? And even if she came in imme- 
diately, would not the advantages of attacking France 
through Belgium greatly outweigh the benefit to 
France of Britain's immediately entering the war? 

The genuine surprise of Von Bethmann-Hollweg, 

103 



OBSTACLES TO PEACE 

and in fact of the masses of the German people, shows 
that Germany did not count on the immediate en- 
trance of Great Britain into the war. 

I was in London from July 15 to July 25, 1914. 
Already I had spent a month in Ireland visiting many 
places, seeing many people. For one week I had the 
good fortune to travel with Lord Northcliffe, and was 
able to learn a great deal through the facilities he 
commanded. 

Civil war in Ireland seemed certain and when the 
King called the conference to meet in Buckingham 
Palace, he used the words civil war in his proclamation. 
This conference failed. England's preoccupation was 
serious. 

Further, even should England immediately enter the 
war, it could make but slight difference. From a mili- 
tary standpoint, England was almost as negligible as 
the United States. What would a hundred thousand 
troops signify in a contest in which millions would be 
engaged on each side? 

The advantages to Germany, on the other hand, of 
an advance through Belgium would be incalculable. 

First, she could probably in less than six weeks 
envelop the armies of France and capture Paris. With 
her knowledge of the military situation and of the ar- 
maments of Germany and France, nothing was more 
absolutely certain to Germany than that her armies 
would be in Paris by the middle of September. And 
any student of the war to-day with the knowledge 
then available to the Germans would regard their be- 
lief as absolutely sound. 

The military condition in France was well known in 
Germany. Moreover, on July 13, an address to the 

104 



WHY DID GERMANY INVADE BELGIUM? 

French Senate by Senator Humbert revealed France's 
military shortcomings. I quote from a dispatch that 
appeared in the London "Times," July 14, 1914: — 

Startling disclosures in the Senate to-day with regard to 
the deficient organization and administration of the Army 
were rendered still more dramatic by the intervention of 
M. Clemenceau, who demanded an immediate reply from 
the War Minister. The House is expected to sit to-morrow, 
National Fete day, in order to continue the debate. 

The disclosures were made by M. Charles Humbert, 
Senator from the Meuse, in submitting his report on the 
special report for materiel. This speech was as scathing an 
indictment of a public department as has been heard in the 
French Parliament. 

Forts, he said, were defective in structure; guns lacked 
ammunition, and the men were without boots. There was 
no provision for the defense of fortifications against attacks 
from the air, and the wireless installation for communicating 
from fort to fort was inadequate. When the German wireless 
installation at Metz was working, the Verdun station ceased 
to receive messages. The French artillery was rapidly falling 
behind that of Germany. So-called improvements were 
themselves obsolete by the time they had been discussed and 
adopted. As for the boots of the Army, the supply was 
two million short of requirements. If war broke out, the 
men would have to take the field with one pair of boots and 
only one reserve boot in their knapsack, and that one thirty 
years old. 

There must, he concluded, be a complete reorganization 
of the whole business of military administration, which at 
present suffered from an extreme instability of government. 

M. Messimy, the Minister of War, said he could not reply 
to the indictment on the spur of the moment; whereupon 
M. Clemenceau exclaimed, "The country has a right to 
know how its money has been spent; we must have an 
immediate reply." 

The Minister of War, amid great excitement, then ad- 
mitted that the majority of the accusations made by M. 

105 



OBSTACLES TO PEACE 

Humbert were accurate, taken by themselves. They were, 
however, only accurate as exceptions, and not as the rule. 

The great plan of the German General Staff was 
simplicity itself. Germany's military forces would be 
placed on the Franco-German frontier in sufficient 
numbers to protect against invasion and occupy the 
bulk of the French military forces. Meanwhile an 
overwhelming army of over a million of the best- 
equipped soldiers in the world would sweep through 
Belgium, drive the French forces west and south, en- 
velop them, achieve a Sedan on a colossal scale, and 
take Paris at its leisure. 

But the French do not give up easily, and with the 
Loire as a new front, France might carry on the war, 
thereby delaying victory and adding heavily to the 
cost of the war and also giving time for England to 
come in. 

But by invading France through Belgium, Germany 
did more than win a battle. Modern war requires 
munitions on a gigantic scale. Modern war is a war of 
metallurgy. Nearly all the iron and coal mines of 
France and three fourths of her steel mills are in the 
northeast. When Germany intrenched after the battle 
of the Marne, she controlled most of the mineral re- 
sources — and hence most of the raw materials for 
munitions — of France. The war was won if France 
could not get materials by sea, and there was the 
submarine. 

The enormous increase in Germany's resources and 
the starvation of France's industries rendered France 
absolutely unable to manufacture sufficient munitions, 
the more so as more than a third of all her manufactur- 
ing plants were in Germany's possession. 

106 



WHY DID GERMANY INVADE BELGIUM? 

Further, the crops raised in the part of France 
occupied by the German armies are not applied to the 
needs of the inhabitants. They are taken by the 
German Government. When I was in Mannheim, in 
April, 1916, I was told by Herr Hirsch, president of 
the Corn Exchange, that he had a day or two before 
dealt with one thousand tons of wheat shipped from 
French territory occupied by the Germans. 

Iron ore from the French mines is mined far in excess 
of the consumption of the mills, and is stored up in 
Germany. The forests are cut down and the lumber 
shipped to Germany. 

It is estimated by the French Government that it 
will require two and a half billion dollars to restore the 
part of France occupied by the German army. This 
does not include the loss to France from the exploita- 
tion of her mines of iron ore and coal, nor from the 
destruction of her forests. 

The Eastern frontier of France runs through the 
middle of the Lorraine iron deposits; and nine tenths 
of the metallurgical industries of the whole of France 
are concentrated in the Briey Basin just across the 
frontier from Germany. If, the Germans argued, the 
Briey Basin were seized at the beginning of the war, 
the French would have lost more than a battle, be- 
cause they would be deprived of the means of recupera- 
tion, and the Germans, on their part, would have 
gained "a victory without a morrow." 

. . . France, though victorious [writes M. Engerand], 
found herself nevertheless without munitions and material, 
and without the means of producing them in the quantities 
made requisite by the turn which the war was taking — 
deprived of 90 per cent of her iron ore, 68 per cent of her coal, 

107 



OBSTACLES TO PEACE 






86 per cent of her resources for the production of cast iron, 
and 76 per cent of her power of turning out steel and iron 
plates. Of 127 blast furnaces in active operation in 1913, 
95 were in the war zone and in the possession of the enemy. 
She had, besides, been obliged to abandon to Germany 
enormous stocks of cast iron, steel billets, and iron plates. 
At Valenciennes, the Germans found immense supplies of 
horseshoes, of which they then stood very much in need. 

The Germans, no less than ourselves, realized that fact, 
as appears from a confidential memorandum addressed to 
Herr von Bethmann-Hollweg, on May 20, 1915, by the 
representatives of six important industrial associations : — 

The manufacture of our shells calls for iron and steel 
in quantities hitherto unsuspected. Merely for the 
shells of fonte grise, which are inferior substitutes for 
the shells of fonte d'acier and acier Hire, we have re- 
quired, during the last few months, 4000 tons of iron 
per day. If our production of iron and steel had not 
been doubled since last August, it would have been 
impossible to continue the war. As raw material for the 
manufacture of these immense quantities of iron and 
steel, the " minette" [i.e., the ore of the Lorraine mines] 
takes a place of continually increasing importance; for 
this is the only ore which we can get out of our mines in 
continually increasing quantities. From 60 to 80 per 
cent of our iron and steel is, at present, being made from 
the minette. If the production of the minette were inter- 
rupted, the war would be as good as lost. 

"The economic production of France," said Herr 
Schrodter, at the annual general meeting of the Verein 
Eisenhuttenleuter, " is seriously damaged, and, indeed, in a 
large measure annihilated." 

, By invading Belgium, Germany secured immeas- 
urable advantages, incalculable because she at once 
increased her coal and iron resources so that her pro- 
duction was enormously increased, and most impor- 

108 



WHY DID GERMANY INVADE BELGIUM? 

tant of all, she crippled France at the very source for the 
manufacture of munitions. But this was not all. She 
stripped the Belgian and French mills and factories of 
all raw materials as well as of all useful machinery. 
Belgium and occupied France have thus been a source 
of great strength to Germany, at less than no expense. 
In a petition to the German Government to take 
territory from France, and to control Belgium eco- 
nomically after the war, six influential associations 
gave a statement of the enormous value of the terri- 
tory occupied. The names of the associations which 
organized the petition are as follows: Bund der 
Landwirte (Farmers' League), Deutsche Bauern Ver- 
band (German Peasants' Union), Vorort der Christ- 
lichen Bauern vereine (the Executive of the Christian 
Peasants' Union), Zentral Verband Deutscher In- 
dustrieller (Central Association of German Manu- 
facturers), Bund Deutscher Industrieller (the Union 
of German Manufacturers), and the Reichsdeutsche 
Mittelstands-Verband (Imperial German Middle- 
Class Association). 

The present war must be followed by a peace concluded 
with honor answering to the sacrifices made and containing 
in itself the guarantee of its endurance. 

Our only guarantee consists in an economic and military 
enfeeblement of our adversaries, such that, thanks to it, 
peace will be insured for a period as long as can be taken into 
consideration. 

Because it is necessary to assure our credit on the sea, and 
our military and economical situation for the future in rela- 
tion to England, because the Belgian territory, economically 
so important, is closely connected with our own principal 
industrial territory, Belgium, in matters monetary, finan- 
cial, and postal, must be subjected to the legislation of the 

109 



OBSTACLES TO PEACE 






Empire. Her railways and waterways must be closely bound 
up with our own communications. By constituting a Wal- 
loon territory and a territory preponderatingly Flemish, 
and by putting into German hands the enterprises and the 
economical properties so important in dominating the coun- 
try, we shall organize the government and the administra- 
tion in such a manner that the inhabitants shall be able to 
acquire no influence on the political destinies of the German 
Empire. 

As to France, always having in view our situation with 
relation to the English, it is of vital interest to us, in view of 
our future on the sea, that we should possess the coastal 
region adjoining Belgium very nearly as far as the Somme 
which will give us an opening from the Atlantic Ocean. The 
hinterland, which must be acquired at the same time, must 
have such an extent that economically and strategically the 
ports to which lead the canals may be able to take their full 
importance. Every other territorial conquest of France, 
outside of the necessary annexation of the mining basins of 
Briey, must be made only from considerations of military 
strategy. In this respect, after the experiences of this war, it 
is very natural that we should not expose our frontiers to 
new hostile invasions by leaving to the adversary the for- 
tresses which threaten us, especially Verdun and Belfort, 
and the western ramparts of the Vosges, situated between 
those two fortresses. By the conquest of the line of the 
Meuse and of the French coast with the mouths of the 
canals, we should acquire from her, besides the iron ore 
regions of Briey already indicated, the coal territories of the 
Departments of the North and of the Pas-de-Calais. These 
territorial augmentations suppose that the population of 
the annexed territories shall not be in a position to attain 
any political influence over the destinies of the German 
Empire, and that all the means of economic power existing 
in these territories, including moderate and large properties, 
shall pass into German hands; France shall indemnify the 
property-owners and shall receive them. 

This with the coast-line will enable use to be made of the 
canals and enable the ports at the mouth of the canals to 

110 



WHY DID GERMANY INVADE BELGIUM? 

assume their full importance. The security of the German 
Empire in a future war imperiously calls for all the beds of 
minerals, including the fortresses of Longwy and of Verdun, 
without which these mineral beds cannot be protected. The 
possession of great quantities of coal, and especially of coal 
rich in bitumen, which abounds in the basin of the North of 
France, is, at least in as great measure as iron ore, decisive 
for the issue of the war. Belgium and the North of France 
together produce more than forty millions of tons. 

The value of the territory Germany secured from 
France in 1871 is indicated in a statement by Otto 
Hue, Socialist Member of the Reichstag : — 

Of the 34,000,000 tons of iron ore worked up in German 
smelters and foundries in 1913, some 23,250,000 tons came 
from the interior of the Empire, and as of that only about 
7,000,000 tons were produced outside of Alsace-Lorraine, a 
simple calculation shows that already in 1913 some 70 per 
cent of the German iron ore used came from Lorraine. 

What France lost is clearly stated by Henri Berenger, 
Member of the French Senate : — 

There is no reason to be astonished that Germany, from 
the very beginning of the war, has sought to maintain pos- 
session of the Basin of Briey, which represented 90 per cent 
of our iron production, and that the attack on Verdun has 
been for the purpose of confirming and perpetuating this 
possession. 

Before the war Germany produced annually 28,000,000 
tons of iron, of which 21,000,000 tons came from that part 
of the Basin of Briey which had been annexed to Germany 
since 1870-71. 

France produced annually 22,000,000 tons of iron, of 
which 15,000,000 tons came from the part of the Basin of 
Briey which had remained French. . . . 

Since the war began France, having lost the Basin of 
Briey through invasion, has been almost exclusively fur- 
nished with iron from England and America. 

Ill 



OBSTACLES TO PEACE 

Germany, on the contrary, having occupied at the same 
time the Basin of Briey in France and in Luxemburg, has 
put in operation nearly all the great furnaces there and thus 
adds to her 28,000,000 tons, before the war, the 15,000,000 
tons of our basin and the 6,000,000 of the Basin of Luxem- 
burg — that is, 28 plus 15 plus 6, making 49,000,000 tons 
of iron for herself and her allies. 

Germany has at her disposition about 45,000,000 tons of 
ore for military and naval appliances of all sorts. 

We have left Germany in possession of 90 per cent of our 
French production of iron and of 80 per cent of the national 
production of steel we had before the war. 

Here, notably, is what one may read since May 20, 1915, 
in the "Confidential Memorandum on the Conditions of 
Future Peace," which was addressed to Von Bethmann- 
Hollweg, Chancellor of the Empire, by the six great indus- 
trial and agricultural associations of Germany : — 

If the production of pig iron and steel had not been 
doubled since August, 1914, the continuation of the 
war would have been impossible. At present the min- 
eral of Briey furnishes from 60 to 80 per cent of the 
appliances made from iron and steel. If this production 
be disturbed the war will be practically lost. 

British and French naval and mercantile power 
overcame the tremendous handicap under which 
France suffered. 

France had to import coal, iron, and steel, had to 
make an enormous increase in manufacturing facilities, 
and at the same time wage a colossal war. 

The Question of Alsace-Lorraine: a Footnote 

I will here give data furnished me by Mr. Sawhill, 
associate editor of "The Iron Trade Review," Cleve- 
land. Mr. Penton, the publisher, had just spent sev- 
eral months in France, studying the industrial situa- 

112 



WHY DID GERMANY INVADE BELGIUM? 

tion. These statistics as to production of iron ore are 
the latest available, and are for 1913, the last year 
before the war: — 

Germany (of which Alsace-Lorraine pro- 
duces 21,136,265) 28,607,903 

France (of which Briey Basin produces 

12,699,240 for 1912) 21,714,000 

England 15,997,328 

United States 61,980,437 

From this table it will be seen that three fourths of 
the iron ore mined in Germany comes from Alsace- 
Lorraine. According to these statistics if France gets 
back Alsace-Lorraine the production of iron ore in 
Germany would be 7,471,638 tons and in France 
42,850,265 tons. Should Germany keep the Briey 
Basin which she now holds, the production in Germany 
would be 41,307,143 tons, and in France 9,014,760 
tons. 

In quoting from various authorities I have not tried 
to reduce the statements to identical terms as to terri- 
tory and tonnage. The statistics given herewith are 
accurate if we deal with what is known in France as 
the Briey Basin. The settlement of the question of 
Alsace-Lorraine is not as simple as if it were a mere 
matter of scenery. 



CHAPTER VII 

THE SPOLIATION OF BELGIUM 

On Friday, July 31, 1914, Von Bethmann-Hollweg 
telegraphed to the German Embassy in St. Petersburg, 
as follows : -— 

In spite of negotiations still pending and although we 
have up to this hour made no preparations for mobilization, 
Russia has mobilized her entire army and navy, hence also 
against us. 

From this dispatch and from a similar one sent to 
Paris on the same day, we learn that Germany had 
not mobilized before Saturday, August 1, 1914. At 
7 p.m. August 2, on Sunday, the German Minister at 
Brussels, Herr von Below, informed the Belgian 
Government of the purpose of the German Govern- 
ment of invading France by way of Belgium. 

This notwithstanding that already, on August 1, 
the French Minister at Brussels had made the follow- 
ing verbal communication to the Belgian Minister for 
Foreign Affairs : — 

I am authorized to declare that in the event of an inter- 
national conflict the Government of the Republic will, as it 
has always declared, respect the neutrality of Belgium. In 
the event of this neutrality not being respected by another 
power, the French Government, in order to insure its own 
defense, might be led to modify its attitude. 

I deal with the entire subject of the neutrality of 
Belgium in chapter 14. 

114 



THE SPOLIATION OF BELGIUM 

On the 4th of August, in the Reichstag, in the course 
of his address, Von Bethmann-Hollweg said: — 

Gentlemen, we are now in a position of necessity [energetic 
assent] ; and necessity knows no law. (Not kennt kein Gebot.) 
[Energetic applause.] Our troops have occupied Luxemburg 
[energetic "Bravo"]; perhaps they have already entered 
Belgian territory. [Energetic applause.] Gentlemen, this is 
in contradiction to the rules of international law. The 
French Government has declared in Brussels that it is willing 
to respect the neutrality of Belgium so long as it is respected 
by the enemy. But we knew that France stood prepared for 
an inroad. ["Hear, hear," from right.] France could wait, 
but we could not. A French inroad on our flank on the 
Lower Rhine could have been fatal to us. [Energetic assent.] 
So we were forced to set aside the just protests of the Lux- 
emburg and Belgian Governments. ["Quite right!"] The 
wrong — I speak openly — the wrong that we now do we 
will try to make good again as soon as our military ends 
have been reached. When one is threatened as we are, and 
all is at stake, he can only think of how he can hack his way 
out. [Long, stormy applause and clapping from all sides of 
the House.] 

In regard to the statement of Von Bethmann- 
Hollweg that he knew "France stood prepared for an 
inroad" (through Belgium), one can only say that so 
far as indicated by the facts and all available docu- 
ments, Von Bethmann-Hollweg was misinformed by 
the military authorities of Germany. 

The fate of the Belgians and of the Armenians will 
stand out as the two greatest tragedies of the war. 

Belgium has about one fourteenth the population 
and one fourteenth the wealth of the United States, the 
per capita wealth being about the same. But Belgium 
produces less than one third of the food it requires. It 
is a country rich in coal and iron. Its foreign trade is 

115 



OBSTACLES TO PEACE 

enormous for its size. If the foreign trade of the 
United States were correspondingly as large as the 
foreign trade of Belgium, it would be twenty billions 
a year. Belgium had a population equal to that of 
Canada, a territory less than one third that of the 
State of Illinois, and a foreign trade equal to that of 
all South America. 

Immediately on invading Belgium, the German 
Government seized all the raw materials in the great 
manufacturing centers, and not only that, but all the 
valuable machinery in the mills and factories of 
Belgium. To replace the private property thus con- 
fiscated will require several hundreds of millions of 
dollars. 

Further, heavy requisitions were made for other 
materials for the army and heavy fines were levied on 
cities and provinces, and later the deposits of the larg- 
est banks were requisitioned. It is estimated, counting 
the ten million dollars a month that Germany collects 
from Belgium to pay for the army of occupation, that 
the amount of raw materials, machinery, other supplies 
and money that Germany has taken from Belgium 
reaches a total in excess of one billion dollars, or nearly 
five times as much as all the world has contributed to keep 
the Belgian people from starving to death. 

The thoroughness of the search by the military 
authorities for all useful supplies is illustrated by such 
proclamations as the following, posted at Grivegnee, 
September 6, 1914: — 

Any one knowing of the location of a store of more than 
one hundred litres of petroleum, benzine, benzol, or other 
similar liquids in the aforesaid communes, and who does not 
report same to the military commander on the spot, incurs 

116 



THE SPOLIATION OF BELGIUM 

the penalty of death, provided there is no doubt about the 
quantity and location of the store. Quantities of one hundred 
litres are alone referred to. 

(Signed) Dieckmann, Major in Command. 

Here is an illustrative incident from a German news- 
paper: * — 

... A chateau stands beside the highway, at the back of 
a courtyard protected by a French spear-headed railing. It 
is intact, and shelters the staff of an infantry regiment. Fac- 
ing it is the ruined f agade of an incredibly pretentious build- 
ing on whose pediment sprawls in letters of gold the one 
word, "Bank." Beside it is a wholesale corn-chandler's and 
a wholesale wine-merchant's. All this belonged to a single 
man. It was necessary to shoot him as hostage, because the 
French were persisting, despite all warnings, in throwing 
shells into the neighborhood. In the wine-cellars stores of 
unexpected importance were found: according to the esti- 
mates there are more than half a million litres of red and 
white wine of very good quality. A great part of the wine was 
pumped out of the tanks and received, like an old acquaint- 
ance, by the comrades far and near. 

The rich man of this quarter of the town had a companion 
who was more lucky, who in due time sought safety in flight. 

Here is a proclamation which shows another method 
of using the resources of Belgium : — 

By order of His Excellency the Inspector de l'Etape, I 
call the attention of the commune to the following: — 

The attitude of certain factories which, under pretext of 
patriotism and relying on the Hague Convention, have re- 
fused to work for the German Army, proves that there are, 
in the midst of the population, tendencies whose object is to 
place difficulties in the way of the administration of the 
German army. 

In this connection I make it known that I shall repress, 
by all the means at my disposal, such behavior, which can 
1 The Kolnische Zeitung, February 21, 1915. 
117 



OBSTACLES TO PEACE 






only disturb the good understanding hitherto existing be- 
tween the administration of the German army and the 
population. 

In the first place, I hold the Communal authorities respon- 
sible for the spread of such tendencies, and I call attention 
to the fact that the population will itself be responsible if the 
liberties hitherto accorded in the most ample measure are 
withdrawn and replaced by the restrictive measures necessi- 
tated by its own fault. 

Lieutenant-General Graf von Westarp, 
Commandant de VEtape. 

June 19, 1915. 

The German justification of her acts in Belgium are 
to be found in her laws of war : — 

The law of requisitions has no other limits than the exhaus- 
tion y impoverishment, and destruction of the country. 

Von Hartmann completes and defines this: — 

The system of requisitions goes indefinitely beyond the 
simple right to collect provisions in the country where war 
is carried on. It implies the full exploitation of that country 
in all respects and whatever the assistance which one is able 
to promise one's self from it for the army operating there, 
whether to facilitate and advance its actions, or to promote 
its endurance and ensure its safety. 

This implies, be it noted, that military necessities must not 
establish any distinction between public and private property 
and that the army claims the right to take what it requires 
everywhere and in such a manner as it can appropriate it. 

The seizure of enemy territory is a matter of course, 
"not always," Clausewitz says, "with the intention of 
keeping it, but to levy war contributions upon it, 
merely in order to lay it waste" It is necessary that a 
cry of distress should arise from invaded countries. 
Julius von Hartmann adds : — 

118 



THE SPOLIATION OF BELGIUM 

Distress, the deep misery of war, must not be spared to 
the enemy State. The burden must be and must remain 
crushing. The necessity of imposing it follows from the very 
idea of national war. . . . 

That individuals may be severely affected, when one 
makes an example of them intended to serve as a deterrent, 
is truly deplorable for them. But for the people as a whole, 
this severity exercised against individuals is a salutary 
blessing. When national war has broken out, terrorism be- 
comes a principle which is necessary from a military stand- 
point. 

Professor Massart, dealing with the principal causes 
of famine in Belgium, says : — 

Let us consider briefly the principal causes of the famine 
which prevails in Belgium. 

1. Exaggerated requisitions, out of all proportion to the 
resources of the country. They are of two kinds: — 

Firstly, those which have emptied the country of grain, 
cattle, forage, and other foodstuffs. 

Then the requisitions of the raw materials intended for 
the factories, which have completely paralyzed industry, 
especially in Flanders. One example will suffice: All the 
workshops of Termonde were burned save one — the 
Escaut-Dendre establishment, which makes boots and shoes. 
But the Germans sent into Germany both the leather and 
the shoes which were in the warehouse. The factory is thus 
condemned to stand idle for lack of raw material, and also 
for lack of funds. Those industries the machinery of which 
has been removed are also, of course, doomed to paralysis. 

2. Having made a clean sweep of the greater portion of all 
that was indispensable to us, the Germans have been careful 
to take our money from us. Under every imaginable pretext, 
and often without any pretext at all, they have imposed 
crushing taxes upon us. The regular payment of these taxes 
showing that the public coffers were not yet quite empty, 
the Germans hastened to impose fines upon us, which vary 
from five francs to five millions. The private banks, too, are 

119 



OBSTACLES TO PEACE 

threatened every moment with the removal of a portion of 
their funds. 

By Germany our country was condemned to perish of 
starvation. The miracle which alone could save us has been 
effected by the charity of Spain, Scandinavia, Holland, Italy, 
Switzerland, New Zealand, Australia, Canada, the Argen- 
tine Republic, Brazil, and above all, the United States. 

What are we to say, for example, of the placard posted at 
Menin, in July, 1915, by order of the Commandant Schmidt, 
in which it is ordained that the families of those " who do 
not work regularly on the military works" shall be allowed 
to die of starvation? — 

ORDER 

From to-day the town can no longer grant relief — 
of whatever kind, even for families, women and chil- 
dren — save only to those workmen who are working 
regularly on the military works and on other works 
prescribed. 

All other workmen and their families cannot hence- 
forth be assisted in any way whatever. 

One of the most interesting men I met in Germany 
was Dr. Rathenau, son of the founder of the famous 
A.E.G. (the General Electric Company of Germany). 
He gave me a pamphlet describing his work in con- 
nection with the war. Dr. Rathenau suggested to the 
Government the necessity for a census of all raw 
materials that had to do with war. He was at once 
authorized to undertake this work. The pamphlet he 
gave me is a report of a speech he made on the work of 
the bureau he organized. I quote from it : — 

It was first of all necessary to assure ourselves by all pos- 
sible means an increase of the reserves of crude materials, 
as well by purchases in neutral countries, as by the seizing 
of stores found in the occupied countries. The occupation of 
Belgium, of the part of France industrially most important, 

120 



THE SPOLIATION OF BELGIUM 

as well as of parts of the Western territory, brought new 
material of labor to the Deutsche Kriegsrohstoffabteilung. It 
was necessary to utilize the stocks of crude material of these 
three territories for the national economy of the war, espe- 
cially the reserves found in the centers of the continental 
wool market; also the important reserves of rubber and of 
saltpetre must be made available to the profit of the national 
manufactures. A network of centers of expedition, of depots, 
and of organizations of distribution, was established; the 
difficulties of transportation were removed; new blood, ren- 
dering our vitality greater and more enduring, was infused 
in the national industry. 

A more detailed and equally authoritative account 
of the German utilization of private property in Bel- 
gium is given in a series of articles appearing Feb- 
ruary, 1915, in the "Neueste Nachrichten" of Munich. 
These articles were prepared by a special envoy, Dr. 
Ludwig Ganghofer. Dealing with the German admin- 
istration in Belgium and France, he says : — 

The entire work is accomplished in virtue of the principle : 
to bring the least possible from Germany for the needs of the 
army; to draw the most possible from the conquered enemy 
country; and everything which is superfluous for the army, 
but which can be utilized at home, to send it into Germany. 

In three months the conquered country has covered four 
fifths of the needs of the army. Even now, although the 
available resources of the country occupied by us are becom- 
ing scarcer, the conquered country still covers two thirds of 
the needs of our Army of the West. By that means, accord- 
ing to a moderate estimation, a saving for Germany is accom- 
plished of three millions and a half to four million marks 
a day. 

This profit of the German victory is further notably in- 
creased by the profits of the economic war carried on in con- 
formity to the prescriptions of international law against 
the conquered territory, that is to say, by the utilization of 

121 



OBSTACLES TO PEACE 

the property of the State transported in enormous quantities 
from Belgium and the North of France, into Germany, — 
such as booty of war, provisionings of fortresses, cereals, 
wools, metals, precious woods and other products, with the 
exception of all private property not requisitioned, which 
can be seized in case of necessity to increase German pro- 
visionments, but which will be also paid for at its entire 
value. What Germany saves and gains by this economic war 
directed in a commercial spirit, can be computed daily to 
six or seven more millions of marks, so that the total profit 
realized by the German Empire behind the Western front, 
since the beginning of the war, may be counted at about 
two billions [marks] ; which is for Germany a glorious victory, 
represented by the saving and the increase of its economic 
power; and for the enemy, a crushing defeat, corresponding 
to the exhaustion of all financial resources of the territory 
which we have seized. [This was during the first six months 
of the war.] 

Dr. Ganghof er continues : — 

I shall have again to refer to the ramifications and to the 
direction of this economic war. Men will thus learn to dis- 
card the expression of " impractical Germans." 

I was told that it is customary when the German 
authorities take private property to give the owner an 
order for the value of the property, but this order is to 
be made good by the French Government in the case 
of French citizens and by the Belgian Government, or 
by England and France, in the case of Belgian citizens. 

In the German "Official Monitor," published at 
Brussels, are a host of orders of seizures, taxations, 
collections, inventories, declarations, authorizations, 
restrictions, interdictions, etc. Industry, commerce, 
agriculture, finances, labor, everything is here passed 
through the sieve, fanned, ventilated, levied upon, 
successively and iteratively, with an application, aper- 

122 



THE SPOLIATION OF BELGIUM 

severance, and an activity equally devouring. It is as 
if a swarm of grasshoppers had settled upon the country 
and had eaten it bare. The German colonial science 
has an expressive word to define this particular method 
of exploitation to the limit; it calls it "the political 
economy of exhaustion" (Raubswirtschaft) . 

It is impossible, for lack of space, to give detailed 
and complete enumeration of the objects of these 
measures. Beginning with the order of October 26, 
1914, authorizing the "Commissary of the Ministry 
of War" to requisition forty-four articles (crude 
materials), completed by that of November 15, 1914 
(eighteen new articles) , and by that of December 20, 
1914 (seventeen articles more), there were seized in 
Belgium on order: thousands of machines, of tool 
machines, especially of American engines impossible 
to replace, pieces of machines; metals, especially 
copper, which was taken away from a quantity of in- 
dustrial installations, thus rendering them unusable; 
lubricating oils, petroleum, and benzine; stocks of 
wool, of flax, of jute, of cotton, of threads of all kinds, 
in this way obliging all the spinning and weaving mills 
of the country to close their doors, unless their admin- 
istrations would consent to work for the German army. 
All this not yet being enough, they proceeded to the 
seizure or the mobilization of rubber, of tires of autos 
and of velocipedes, transmission belting, steel parts, 
automobiles, locomotives, motors of all kinds, ma- 
chines for manufacturing wood, building-lumber, wal- 
nut trees, poplar trees, horses, leathers and hides, even 
to and including the skins of rabbits and cats, cloths 
of wool, cotton, and silk, ribbons, bonneterie, passe- 
menterie, etc. 

123 



OBSTACLES TO PEACE 

Among interdictions or restrictions of the right to 
import, we find them in regard to materials or products 
of which Belgium is in need, but of which Germany 
wishes to reserve for herself the quantities to be had 
in neutral countries. 

"Le Temps" of January 5, 1915, publishes the fol- 
lowing extract from the " Frankfurter Zeitung": — 

The goods of different sorts seized in the enemies' terri- 
tories are in such large quantities that the difficulty of know- 
ing where to put thern increases day by day. At the request 
of the Prussian Minister of War all Chambers of Commerce 
have been asked to give all possible information with regard 
to storehouses, sheds, etc., which could be used temporarily 
to warehouse the spoil. 

From the month of December, 1914, the Belgian 
provinces were solidly subjected to a permanent and 
monthly war contribution of forty millions of francs a 
month, in addition to the ordinary imposts maintained 
in their entirety and increased in certain respects. 
The German authorities refusing on principle to ac- 
cept payment in marks, the contribution had to be 
paid chiefly in Belgian francs. After having brought to 
Germany nearly a billion francs, this contribution has 
been increased by ten million francs a month, and 
brought thus to the amount of fifty millions of francs 
(orders of November 20, 1916). Add to this: the impo- 
sition of the mark at a forced minimum value of 1 fr. 25; 
the imposition of the settlement in marks of the part of 
the requisitions which was paid in money; the absolute 
interdiction of the exportation of money even to pay 
for the provisions necessary for feeding the civil 
population. 

When all these measures had produced their natural 

124. 



THE SPOLIATION OF BELGIUM 

and inevitable effect: the inflation of the marks and 
their engorgement in the institutions of emission 
(National Bank and General Society), the German 
authorities undertook to appropriate to themselves 
this fund of savings; they opened a campaign of 
summations and of intimidation (the arbitrary arrest 
and deportation of Director Carlier) , and finally forced 
the banks to give up the keys of their vaults by impos- 
ing on them the ultimatum of forced and immediate 
liquidation. This extortion permitted the German 
authorities to transfer for forced investment in Ger- 
many more than four hundred and thirty millions of 
marks, the property of the two banks, which are pri- 
vate companies and not State institutions. 

When I was in Belgium last February (1916) I was 
told by an unusually well-informed German officer that 
Belgium was ruined. The finances and currency of 
Belgium are not quite so badly ruined as those of 
Mexico, but have suffered in somewhat the same 
way. 

The removal of machinery from her factories is a 
vital blow, as Belgium is mainly a manufacturing na- 
tion. The money and property taken from Belgium rep- 
resent the greater part of the movable resources of the 
country. If the United States had been robbed in two 
and a half years of fourteen billion dollars, and had had 
to contribute one billion four hundred millions a year 
to pay for an army of occupation, besides the ordinary 
taxes; had had to secure from the outside over one 
billion dollars worth of food a year, and was absolutely 
incapacitated to manufacture, to import, or to export, 
our country would be in the same condition as is 
Belgium, if all the people in the United States had only 

125 



OBSTACLES TO PEACE 

a little more than one half of Texas in which to raise 

food. 

The American Commission, acting as agent for 
the money subscribed to support the Belgian people, 
reports that tuberculosis has increased in Belgium five 
hundred per cent on account of insufficient food. Of 
the seventy-five million dollars a year that the Com- 
mission has at its disposal, sixty millions is the sum 
advanced by the English Government. The voluntary 
offerings of the people of the United States are very 
small compared to the needs of the Belgian people. It 
seems to me that the Congress of the United States 
should meet this appalling and heart-breaking situa- 
tion by voting an annual sum that would prevent the 
partial destruction of the Belgian people. 

Maurice Maeterlinck gives this picture of Belgium 
to-day : — 

A Cry of Distress 

But little is known of what is going on in Belgium and in 
the invaded departments [of France]. From time to time a 
scandal more notorious than others is declared — an assas- 
sination of heroic patriots, monstrous drives of slaves in the 
North, the disquieting deportation of young Belgians able 
to bear arms, the robbery of six hundred millions of francs 
from the National Bank, and so many other such things that 
they cannot be recounted, for the mind quickly wearies of 
misfortune and horror. 

A recent article in the " Daily News," which I should have 
thought exaggerated and incredible had it not been con- 
firmed by private and sure information which I have re- 
ceived of the fearful condition of my unhappy country to- 
day, described without prejudice, with the impartiality and 
the moderation of a conscientious witness, the situation of 
Belgium, which is daily growing more agonizing and more 
abominable. 

126 



THE SPOLIATION OF BELGIUM 

It is well known that the admirable American intervention 
has literally saved from death by hunger more than half of 
the Belgian population. Indeed, all industry is dead, the 
factories are closed and the machinery of the greater part of 
them has been taken down and sent away to Germany. 
These unfortunates, then, have nothing to live on but the 
distributions of bread and soup which, thanks to the mag- 
nificent generosity of Americans and to the devotion of all, 
are admirably organized in all the centers of population. 

The correspondent of the "Daily News," who has seen it 
with his own eyes, describes to us the sad and solemn spec- 
tacle of these crowds which every day, for so many, many 
days, patiently stand and wait for the meager dole of food 
which prolongs life without delivering from death. These 
crowds do not consist of the poor. Among them are no rags 
and none of the abandon of poverty. Those who stand there 
have never held out the hand to receive an alms. They are 
neatly dressed, resigned, silent and dignified. But all, from 
the oldest to the youngest, and especially the youngest, show 
the sunken and unmistakable faces, the wan and character- 
istic faces, of those who for nearly two years have not eaten 
enough food to satisfy their hunger! 

Tuberculosis, too, is beginning to work its frightful rav- 
ages on these emaciated throngs. As always is the case, it 
attacks preferably the young men, the women, and the chil- 
dren, cutting off in their flower the vital powers of the 
nation. At Brussels alone hundreds of new cases are reported 
every day; and in certain centers where the laboring popula- 
tion is more dense, notably at Ghent, at Liege, at Alost, the 
plague is spreading with alarming rapidity and virulence. It 
involves the salvation and the future of a race. 

What can be done, and what remedy can be found? 

Shall we redouble our aid? Certainly, if it is possible. Shall 
we call once more on the outraged conscience and humanity 
of neutrals? Perhaps: we do not easily lose the habit of 
hoping against all hope. But, in any case, we must at pres- 
ent write down this crime, more perfidious than all others 
of the long and somber list of crimes which we will hold in 
remembrance on the coming day of settlement of accounts. 

127 



OBSTACLES TO PEACE 

The spirit of Belgium is eloquently expressed by 
Baron Beyens : — 

If Europe turns aside from the sight of this indomitable 
resistance, and looks at our country, what does she see there? 
The head of the Belgian clergy, the very incarnation of civic 
patriotism and priestly virtues, stimulating his flock to 
courage and endurance, caring nought for coercion or threats, 
and awaiting with full trust in the Divine Judge the day 
when in his church (not spared, alas! by the invader) he 
shall celebrate the Te Deum of our deliverance. Everywhere 
she sees devotion to the Fatherland and to Christian solidar- 
ity : she sees the Burgomaster of Brussels, whose brave voice 
could only be silenced by imprisonment, although even now 
his memory and his example still hover, as an ever-present 
encouragement, above his fellow-citizens and his city; she 
sees men who yesterday were rich, heads of banks that to- 
day are closed and of workshops that to-day are empty, 
joining with the intellectual flower of Brussels citizens to 
provide for the poor, to insure that the people shall not die 
of hunger and privation; she sees women of all sorts and con- 
ditions turned into Sisters of Charity; she sees fathers and 
mothers, stricken to the heart by the death of their sons or 
anxious as to their fate, living often in homes that the enemy 
has rifled, yet with calm, tearless eyes and faces ennobled 
by sacrifice; and last of all she sees, behind the classes that 
once were privileged, the admirable crowd, the army of 
humble toilers, stoically enduring their forced loss of work 
or their inability to help their country, watching in grim 
silence the countless dead and wounded brought in from the 
enemy regiments, who do not cease to dye with their blood 
that Belgian soil where they thought they had only to 
appear in order to conquer! 

No, such a people cannot die. The Belgian soul, whose 
existence some dared to deny, has gained a new temper from 
the flame of battle, and it still lives to-day, more vigorous 
than ever, to realize our national motto — "Union makes 
Strength." But Belgium is not yet at the end of her long 
ordeal, at the limit of her travail, or on the eve of drying her 

128 



THE SPOLIATION OF BELGIUM 

tears. The iron monster of German militarism cannot be 
battered down in a day. I have seen him at too close quar- 
ters preparing and arming for the fray to have any delusions 
on that score. The league of his adversaries has swollen in 
number and grown in power; but at present this only whets 
his rage, and thus for the time being his might, like that of a 
man who suddenly goes mad, is redoubled. Germany is not 
yet near to waking up, with a start, from her tragic dream of 
triumph and domination. The day of liberation is slow to 
dawn for us, and we still have a long agony to go through. 
But let no Belgian, whether he has been forced to take the 
road of exile, or is suffering, with no word of complaint, the 
well-nigh intolerable contact with the oppressor — let no 
Belgian become for a single instant a prey to discouragement 
or despair ! The hour will strike without fail from the belfries 
of our town halls and the steeples of our churches — the 
hour when our country, reconquered and ten times more 
dear, will press to her lacerated bosom all her sons, once 
more united in an equal love for their common mother; the 
hour when Belgium will recover her place among the nations, 
a loftier place than ever, owing to her valor in the combat 
and her steadfastness in adversity. 

I can close this chapter fittingly by quoting from 
the last writings of Emile Verhaeren, which he gave to 
an American to have published in America. Catherine 
D. Groth, whose privilege it was to bring these writings 
to America, published this little essay in the New York 
"Evening Post Magazine" of January 20, 1917. In a 
brief introduction she says : — 

Few felt the war as keenly as Verhaeren. Not only was he 
Belgian to the core, but he had always been an ardent 
pacifist. All his efforts had tended toward increasing human 
happiness, and war had always seemed to him an unpardon- 
able blot. He had the keenest sympathy for Germany, 
where he was much appreciated. His best biography, in 
fact, was written by an Austrian. 

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OBSTACLES TO PEACE 

When the war came, Verhaeren suffered, not merely as a 
Belgian in seeing his country ruined, its precious art de- 
stroyed, its monuments wrecked, — every stone of which he 
knew and loved, — but as a human being he was hurt in his 
inmost spirit. It was as if Germany's dastardly action had 
knocked the very ground away from under his feet. His faith 
in humanity began to shake. I shall never forget how one 
day, about a year after the outbreak of the war, when sitting 
on a balcony overlooking Paris, and talking about Belgium's 
heroism in the early days of the German invasion, he dwelt 
again and again on the idea: — 

"And we had always looked upon them as our friends!" 
For the first time in his life, through the war, this great 
man, whose gospel had always been greater and greater 
breadth of heart, learned the meaning of hate. 

Proud Belgium 
By Emile Verhaeren 

No matter how desperate their plight may seem, Belgians 
have no right to lament or to dwell on their misery. They 
owe it to themselves to be worthy of their soldiers, who were 
all heroes. 

That women driven from their villages with a flock of 
children hanging at their skirts weep as they walk the high- 
roads of hunger, exile, and suffering — that is natural. But 
men, and especially those who are capable of thought or 
action, must not echo the cries of sorrow. 

They who before the war dreamt of a Greater Belgium 
did not wish for more territory in Europe, or for greater 
colonial expansion in Africa. They longed only for a Belgian 
renascence, economical and intellectual. Their goal was a 
more active and perfected industrial life; a mode of thinking 
more audacious and alive. They sought influence, not con- 
quest. 

Yet in all its history Belgium's influence has never been as 
great as to-day. True, our factories have been silenced, and 
seem to have lost their pulsating life and their ardent breath. 
But they are not dead. As soon as the war is over they will 

130 



THE SPOLIATION OF BELGIUM 

awaken like extraordinary monsters. No matter how heavy 
the cover of ashes, their thousands of tentacles will shake it 
off with ease, as they begin to stretch and move in the reborn 
day. 

We will be younger and more ready than ever before. 
Until to-day, danger had never visited our nation. We lived 
from day to day, with no thought of the morrow. We were 
busied with our own petty quarrels, intent on being lawyers, 
shopkeepers, or postmasters, instead of citizens. We were 
like the rich who do not know poverty. War, we felt, was 
the affair of other nations. 

And then it came upon us, ferocious and overwhelming, 
when we least expected it. Like a mountain whose sides 
should suddenly crack and topple, William's Empire fell 
upon us. We were all alone and few in number. We were 
treacherously attacked. We rallied hastily in Liege, in our 
old forts. We had to improvise our courage, invent our de- 
fense, and awaken a new soul within us. And we did it all in 
one day, one hour, one instant. We astounded the world. 

Oh, how wonderful they were, those moments of sublime 
recklessness and glory! Some there were who at the sight 
of our little army marching to the front could not help a 
murmur: — 

" Cannon food — nothing but cannon food. We have no 
army, no generals, no forts." 

Four days later a name, unknown even the night before, 
was on all lips. The urchins disguised themselves as General 
Leman; young girls sold his picture in the streets. And the 
same little soldiers that we had pitied as cannon food came 
back to Brussels from the battlefield, their arms full of 
Prussian helmets. They were timid and elated at the same 
time, unable to realize the admirable part they had been 
playing. Women kissed them, and we carried them in tri- 
umph. Exalted moments of fever and pride! The weather 
was radiant. The air seemed golden. One inhaled the sun 
as well as heroism. 

Our first successes at Liege, followed by those at Haelen, 
Aerschot, Alost, Dixmude, and Furnes, have for all eternity 
imposed Belgium on the respect, regard, and admiration of 

131 



OBSTACLES TO PEACE 

the world. For nearly three weeks we held back the enor- 
mous German forces. They had counted on disposing of us 
in three days. We knocked the most convincing holes in 
their doctrine of invincibility. Like moving blocks, elbow 
to elbow, cemented one to the other, they marched on our 
forts. Before the assault they cried: " Kaiser! Kaiser! " And 
the Belgian mitrailleuses replied with a dry, crackling noise. 
One after another they fell, in rows, as a pack of cards. The 
light from a wandering Zeppelin played over their agonizing 
faces. A long wail arose and grew weaker. Soon all was 
silence and death. 

That our desperate resistance enabled France and Eng- 
land to mass their forces and organize their campaign of 
salvation, that is not for us to repeat or insist on. 

If we only bear in mind the immense service which we 
rendered the Occident and humanity, our hearts can be filled 
with nothing but pride. Tears or lamentations would be a 
dishonor- Let us say to ourselves that, of all nations, Bel- 
gium was chosen to fulfill one of the greatest destinies; she 
had the honor of forming the first and most decisive barrier 
of the rampart which modern civilization erected against 
ferocity and military barbarism, and her story will be in- 
scribed with those of the few immortal peoples. 

That is why many feel that Belgium dates from yesterday 
only. Never has she been as real, as powerful, as now, when, 
deprived of all territory, she has for emblem and standard 
only the banner of her King. 

The people of Belgium have one infinite compensa- 
tion. They are the victims, not the aggressor. 



CHAPTER VIII 

THE SUBMARINE IN ITS RELATION TO RAIL POWER 
versus SEA POWER 

The submarine differs from other warships in a most 
important respect. It introduces the factor of almost 
permanent invisibility. It cannot be destroyed by 
other submarines, and it can usually elude all kinds of 
warships. In this particular war the Central Powers 
being blockaded and their mercantile marine excluded 
from the sea, their principal naval aim is to destroy as 
much as possible of the mercantile marine afloat. For 
this is a war between rail power and sea power. War, 
like industry, depends for its very existence upon trans- 
portation. Germany and her allies can reach all battle- 
fronts by rail. Thus far Germany and her allies have 
produced all supplies for the civil population and for 
their armies from their own territory or territory 
occupied by their armies. Germany believes that the 
Central Powers constitute a self-supporting world in 
this war, and are independent of the sea. 

The belief of the German naval experts is that the 
submarine could, if used "ruthlessly," destroy so 
much of the world's shipping as to starve out England 
and deprive France of her imports of coal and steel. 
Without these imports France's munition factories 
would soon be closed. 

In fact the German authorities and the German 
people look to the submarine as the surest weapon to 
secure success. 

133 



OBSTACLES TO PEACE 

I found no one in Germany who did not most heartily 
and completely approve the sinking of the Lusitania, 
and should Germany repeat the act, all Germany 
would approve. There was a mingled feeling of con- 
tempt and dislike for the victims. They were looked 
upon as wealthy and impudent Americans, who, in 
spite of being warned by the Imperial Government, 
sailed on a ship that Germans regarded as a warship. 

I had great difficulty in understanding the German 
submarine rules and practice, and finally I was given 
a document prepared under the authority of the 
Government, which I reproduce herewith : — 

(1) In using her submarine weapon, Germany distin- 
guishes between hostile and neutral ships. 

Enemy men-of-war are torpedoed without warning. 
Armed enemy merchantmen are considered as warships: this 
is done for the reason that their commanders have received 
the orders published in the German memorandum of Febru- 
ary 8, 1916, concerning the treatment of armed enemy 
merchantmen, to open fire on every German submarine at 
sight even before any hostile act has been committed; this 
renders a warning from the submarine impossible. Enemy 
merchantmen are also sunk without warning in the war zone, 
i.e., the waters around the British Isles mentioned in the 
proclamation of February 4, 1915. An exception is made, 
however, for enemy passenger steamers (liners) which for 
reasons of humanity are not sunk, even in the war zone, 
without warning and only after saving the lives of passengers 
and crew. 

(2) As for neutral ships Germany respects both the rights 
of neutrals and the principles of humanity, i.e., neutral 
merchantmen are sunk only if they carry contraband and 
cannot be brought into port by a prize crew. No neutral ship 
is sunk without previously establishing her identity and 
cargo, and only after saving the lives of passengers and 
crew. This also applies to neutral ships in the war zone. 

134 



THE SUBMARINE 

(3) Germany takes into consideration the principles of 
humanity inasmuch as she never sinks enemy passenger 
steamers (liners) without warning and only after saving the 
lives of passengers and crew. As a part of the enemy pas- 
senger steamers are armed, and as the English Admiralty 
orders which were found on British ships and published in 
the German memorandum of February 8, 1916, give every 
reason to expect that they will use their armament for offen- 
sive purposes, it is possible that a naval fight may take place 
between such an armed passenger boat and the German 
naval forces. For this reason it is advisable for neutral pas- 
sengers to avoid traveling on armed enemy passenger boats. 

(4) In order to maintain the international passenger 
traffic of neutrals the German Government several months 
ago suggested to enter into negotiations with the neutral 
Governments and to designate as absolutely safe certain 
specially marked neutral steamers which would follow cer- 
tain routes previously agreed upon (vide note handed to 
American Ambassador on July 8, 1915). 

Berlin, April 15, 1916. 

This is a sufficiently formidable document, as it 
was interpreted by the submarine commanders, but 
the new submarine policy of Germany has thrown 
all law and decency to the winds. Her lawless and 
heartless acts in Belgium now find their counterpart 
on the sea. 

The German naval authorities believe that England 
can be forced to surrender from starvation by the 
ruthless use of the submarine. An expert on the sub- 
marine said to me, "We can starve England into sub- 
mission in five weeks if America will not interfere." 

The noted naval writer, Captain Persius, comment- 
ing on the German White Book recently issued, con- 
taining the correspondence between Germany and the 
United States on the submarine controversy says: — 

135 



OBSTACLES TO PEACE 

The Government of the United States had it in their 
power to destroy all differences of opinion at their source, 
and do away with all the difficulties of submarine war. If 
only they had undertaken to guarantee that no merchant 
ship would be armed, Germany would then, on her part, 
have undertaken that no merchant ship should be attacked 
without warning. 

On February 8, 1915, the German Government transmit- 
ted a memorandum to this effect to the United States and 
to all other neutral countries. Her point of view is unassail- 
able. Unfortunately, the Government of the United States 
did not reply to this message. We hope we shall not again 
have to pass through such a correspondence. 

We have constantly emphasized the declaration of the 
German Government, that war between Germany and the 
United States would be inexcusable. This ought to receive 
the consent of the German people. We have expressed our 
confidence that our Government would find a way out of the 
labyrinth of international law which is compatible with a 
peace policy. 

In a recent contribution to the "Berliner Tageblatt," 
Captain Persius says : — 

Almost the whole production of the world outside Europe 
is at the service of our enemies, but does them no good if, 
as a result of the shortage of freight space, they can make no 
use of it. . . . The main causes of the shortage of freight 
space are the sinking of numerous merchant ships, the con- 
fiscation by the Government for military purposes of a great 
part of the mercantile marine, the reduced construction of 
new merchant ships, losses due to the war, capture for 
carrying contraband, running upon mines, and so on. 

Captain Persius ends his article as follows : — 

We look to the future full of confidence in the efficiency of 
our submarine arm, which, one may with certainty expect, 
will constantly increase in strength. We hope that the short- 
age of tonnage already prevailing among our enemies can be 

136 



THE SUBMARINE 

brought up to the point at which it will be intolerable, and 
this will surely be of considerable importance for the mili- 
tary situation. 

The "Rheinisch-Westfalische Zeitung" says: — 

We come to the conclusion that the continuation of 
cruiser warfare with submarines to the present extent will 
bring Great Britain to the verge of ruin within a year. Our 
submarines can conquer England. 

In a sense, every ship that floats is in the German 
mind an asset of her enemies. If she could largely 
destroy the shipping of the world, England and France 
must yield and accept peace on German terms. 

The handicap under which France labors is set forth 
clearly by Henri Berenger, of the French Senate, in 
the chapter, "Why Did Germany Invade Belgium?" 

Even if France could supply herself with everything 
excepting coal and iron, she must become quickly 
helpless if imports are cut off. 

The task of the British naval and mercantile marine 
is stupendous. Germany does not fear Great Britain's 
navy. It cannot reach her or any of her allies. Sea 
power in this war means merchant ships. Germany 
can win the war only in one of two ways: either by 
securing a separate peace with Russia, thereby 
enormously increasing her rail power, or by destroying 
so many ships that England cannot import food, raw 
materials, and munitions, for herself and allies, and, 
further, by the same course rendering it impossible for 
England to support her forces at Salonika and Egypt. 
Germany can interfere with the communications of 
the Allies. The Allies cannot interfere with Germany's 
communications . 

Further views are given by Dr. Flamm, Professor 

137 



OBSTACLES TO PEACE 






of Ship Construction at the Technical High School 
at Charlottenburg, who publishes in the "Vossische 
Zeitung" an extraordinary article on the impending 
destruction of the British Empire by German sub- 
marines. He begins by explaining how England has 
been protected for centuries by her insularity. He 
writes : — 

This country, whose dishonorable Government produced 
this terrible world-war by the most contemptible means, 
and solely in selfish greed of gain, has always been able to 
enjoy the fruits of its unscrupulousness because it was reck- 
oned as unassailable. But everything is subject to change, 
and that applies to-day to the security of England's position. 
Thank God, the time has now come when precisely its com- 
plete encirclement by the seas has become the greatest dan- 
ger for the existence of the British nation. 

The writer explains that England cannot be self- 
supporting. He proceeds : — ■ 

Technical progress, in the shape of submarines, has put 
into the hands of all England's enemies the means at last to 
sever the vital nerve of the much-hated enemy, and to pull 
him down from his position of ruler of the world, which he 
has occupied for centuries with ever-increasing ruthlessness 
and selfishness. This exalted and noble aim has to-day come 
within reach, and it is German intellect and German work 
that have paved the way. 

England must reckon with the fact that her world- 
supremacy cannot much longer exist, and that the strongest 
navy can make no difference. When once the invisible neck- 
tie is round John Bull's neck, his breathing will soon cease, 
and the task of successfully putting this necktie on him is 
solely the question of technical progress and of time, which 
now moves so fast. . . . 

Thus before very long a world fate should befall England. 



138 



THE SUBMARINE 

Rail Power versus Sea Power 

The American Civil War may be regarded as the 
first great war in which railroads played a vital part. 
The Russo-Japanese War (1904-05) was the first 
great war that was distinctly a war of rail power 
versus sea power. Soon after the conclusion of the 
Russo-Japanese War, I had a talk with General 
Kuropatkin, as to the reasons for Russia's failure. He 
said that if the Siberian Railway had been a double- 
track in place of a single-track road, the issue of the 
war would have been different. If the capacity of the 
road had been only twenty per cent greater, Russia 
would have won; and in an article in "McClure's 
Magazine," General Kuropatkin wrote: — 

If these lines had been more efficient, we would have 
brought up our troops more rapidly, and, as things turned 
out, 150,000 men concentrated at first would have been of 
far more value to us than the 300,000 who were gradually 
assembled during nine months, only to be sacrificed in de- 
tail. ... If we had had a better railway and had been able 
to mass at Liao-yang the number specified, we should un- 
doubtedly have won the day in spite of our mistakes. 

Edwin A. Pratt writes in "The Rise of Rail Power": 

Kuropatkin himself certainly did all he could to improve 
the transport conditions. In a statement he submitted to 
the Tsar on March 7, 1904, he declared that of all urgently 
pressing questions that of bettering the railway communica- 
tion between Russia and Siberia was the most important; 
and he added: "It must, therefore, be taken up at once, in 
spite of the enormous cost. The money expended will not 
be wasted; it will, on the contrary, be in the highest sense 
productive inasmuch as it will shorten the duration of the 
war." 

What the railways did was to enable the Russians to col- 

139 



OBSTACLES TO PEACE 

lect at the theater of war, by the time the war itself came to 
an end, an army of one million men, — of whom two thirds 
had not yet been under fire, — together with machine guns, 
howitzers, shells, small-arm ammunition, field railways, 
wireless telegraphy, supplies, and technical stores of all 
kinds. Kuropatkin says of this achievement: — 

The War Department had, with the cooperation of 
other departments, successfully accomplished a most 
colossal task. What single authority would have ad- 
mitted, a few years ago, the possibility of concentrating 
an army of a million men fifty-four hundred miles away 
from its base of supply and equipment by means of a 
poorly constructed single-line railway? 

Russia, in fact, agreed to make peace at a time when the 
prospect of her being able to secure a victory was greater 
than it had been at any time during the earlier phases of 
the war; but the Japanese failed to attain all they had hoped 
for, the primary causes of such failure, in spite of their re- 
peated victories, being, as told in the British " Official His- 
tory" of the war, that "Port Arthur held out longer than 
had been expected, and the Trans-Siberian Railway enabled 
Russia to place more men in the field than had been thought 
possible." 

Thus, in respect to rail power, at least, Russia still 
achieved a remarkable feat in her transport of an army so 
great a distance by a single-track line of railway. Such an 
achievement was unexampled, while, although Fate was 
against the ultimate success of her efforts, Russia provided 
the world with a fresh object lesson as to what might have 
been done, in a campaign waged more than five thousand 
miles from the base of supplies, if only the line of rail com- 
munication had been equal from the first to the demands it 
was called upon to meet. 

In the war between Russia and Japan, the long 
distance (fifty-four hundred miles) over a single-track 
road, compared to the short sea passage for Japan, 
gave the first campaign in favor of Japan. This was 

140 



THE SUBMARINE 

absolutely a war in which transportation was by rail 
as against sea. It is not precisely parallel to this war, 
because Russia was not blockaded, and further, be- 
cause the resources of Russia were much greater than 
those of Japan; while in the present war, up to this 
time, the power of the respective belligerents has 
been more nearly equal. 

I was constantly told in Germany that the natural 
resources and manufacturing and agricultural re- 
sources and abilities, controlled by Germany and her 
allies, could enable Germany to wage war for years. I 
was told that the two million Russian prisoners were 
a most vital factor in her agriculture. Given sufficient 
natural resources, it becomes merely a question of 
man power. For this reason, we see the Belgians being 
impressed in hundreds of thousands, the Poles being 
drawn upon. Even the Servians are being taken by the 
Austrians, while by a new law all males in Germany 
from the age of sixteen to sixty are conscripted to 
serve the nation in accordance with the war needs as 
determined by the Government. Also, of course, wo- 
men and girls, as in all the warring countries, offer their 
services in millions. 

Herr Deutsch, Chairman of the A.E.G. (the General 
Electric Company of Germany), assured me that the 
blockade was greatly to Germany's advantage. It had 
greatly stimulated invention, and had made Germany 
and her allies independent of imports. 

Germany and her allies, then, believe that they are 
largely independent of sea-borne commerce, and having 
the advantage of interior lines of communication, they 
are also free from the risks of communication by sea. 
On the other hand, her enemies are vitally dependent 

141 



OBSTACLES TO PEACE 

on the sea. Sea power in this war is more important 
than it has ever before been in any great war. The rail- 
road has been developed as an instrument of trans- 
portation to a degree undreamed of in previous wars. 
The Allies cannot interfere with Germany's rail com- 
munication. Germany believes she can destroy or at 
least fatally cripple the sea communication of her 
enemies. 

THE SUBMARINING OF PASSENGER SHIPS 

No single event in modern history has had so much 
influence on public opinion as the sinking of the 
Lusitania. The ship was famous for her size and her 
speed, and was a masterpiece of the science of ship- 
building. The invasion of Belgium and rumors of 
atrocities had caused hostile feelings against Germany. 
But no enemy of Germany imagined that she would 
sink the Lusitania with its complement of over two 
thousand souls, including scores of children, nearly two 
hundred Americans, Greeks, Dutch, Swiss, Mexicans, 
Russians, French, Italians, and British. 

I remember when an advertisement appeared, pur- 
porting to be from the Imperial German Government 
warning passengers against sailing on such ships, I 
thought it must be some enemy of Germany who, to 
injure Germany, caused the insertion of such an 
advertisement. 

The effect on public opinion was such that no 
atrocities charged against the German naval and mili- 
tary forces seemed incredible. In a little pamphlet 
published in England there is a description of the acts 
of Alfred Vanderbilt and his valet which is worth 
reprinting many times : — 

142 



THE SUBMARINE 

There were many heroes that day on board the Lusitania; 
among them stands out the figure of Alfred Vanderbilt, the 
American millionaire, whom Englishmen, Frenchmen, and 
others had learned to love as a sportsman who always 
thought and acted straight. When the ship was sinking, his 
valet, Ronald Denyer, was by his side. A few days later a 
Canadian lady, Mrs. Lines, told the story of how these two 
men — master and valet — acted when they realized that 
either they must play the coward's part or sink in the great 
ship. 

" People will not talk of Mr. Vanderbilt in future as the 
millionaire sportsman and man of pleasure," this Canadian 
lady declared; "he will be remembered as 'the children's 
hero.' Men and women will salute his name. When death 
was nearing him, he showed a gallantry which no words of 
mine can adequately describe. He stood outside the palm 
saloon, on the starboard side, with Ronald Denyer by his 
side. He looked round on the scene of horror and despair 
with pitying eyes. 'Find all the kiddies you can, boy,' he 
said to his valet. The man rushed off immediately to collect 
the children, and as he brought them to Mr. Vanderbilt, the 
millionaire dashed to the boats with two little ones in his 
arms at a time. When he could no longer find any more 
children, he went to the assistance of the women and placed 
as many as he could in safety. In all his work he was gal- 
lantly assisted by Ronald Denyer, and the two continued 
their efforts to the very end." 

Mr. Vanderbilt was a conspicuous passenger, and hence 
his record has been preserved. He was not the only hero who 
gave up hope of life in order that women and children might 
be saved. As the huge ship went under and the water became 
black with men and women struggling for life and with little 
children, full of terror but hardly realizing the terrible fate 
before them, many men, British, American, or otherwise, 
courted death in the very effort to rescue others. The 
destruction of the Lusitania was a crime without parallel in 
human history, but it has left behind memories which may 
well be a glorious heritage to those who, in beating along 
life's highway, have not abandoned those heroic, though 

143 



OBSTACLES TO PEACE 

simple, traits of character which distinguish men from 
beasts. 

Within twenty minutes after the two torpedoes 
struck the great vessel most of the men, women, and 
children were struggling in the water. Eleven hundred 
and ninety-eight were drowned. 

While the whole world was stunned with amaze- 
ment and horror, the German people and press, largely 
misled as to the cargo and arming of the vessel, re- 
garded the sinking of the Lusitania as a glorious 
victory. 

The sinking of the Lusitania is a success for our submarines 
which must be placed beside the greatest achievements in 
the naval war. . . . The sinking of the great British steamer 
is a success the moral significance of which is still greater 
than the material success. With joyful pride we contem- 
plate this latest deed of our navy, and it will not be the last. 1 

The news will be received by the German people with 
unanimous satisfaction, since it proves to England and the 
whole world that Germany is quite in earnest in regard to 
her submarine warfare. 2 

We rejoice over this new success of the German navy. 3 

On March 28, 1915, more than six weeks before the 
sinking of the Lusitania, the Falaba, a passenger ship 
bound from Liverpool to an African port, had been 
sunk without warning. 

The sinking of the steamer Arabic on August 19, 
1915, is thus described by one of the passengers: — 

I was in my cabin, and was in pyjamas when I heard the 
cry that a steamer was being torpedoed. Whether it was the 
Arabic or another ship attacked by a German foe I did not 

1 Kolnische Zeitung, May 10, 1915. 

8 Ibid., May 15, 1915. 3 Neue Freie Presse, May 15, 1915. 

144 



THE SUBMARINE 

know. But I hastened to dress myself and rushed on deck 
to see the British steamship Dunsley in trouble. After the 
torpedo had penetrated her hull, a loud explosion followed. 
I naturally thought that the next steamer the German sub- 
marine would attack would be the White Star liner I was on, 
and my premonition proved only too true. 

The tramp liner succumbed to the torpedo and had dis- 
appeared with a plunge in the ocean. Within a very short 
time the lifeboats were quickly launched, as were also the 
life-saving rafts, and were floating in the water. The Arabic 
was then struck, without any warning whatever being given. 
She was hit on the port side with a torpedo, and a similar 
explosion to that on the Dunsley followed. It was a deafen- 
ing sound and thrilling in the extreme, and made all the 
passengers considerably alarmed. But there was no time to 
think of the seriousness of the situation. Life was at stake, 
and no one knew what to do to save it. 

Excitement reigned. There was a bit of a swell on that 
made it difficult to get into the boats as they were bobbing 
up and down. However, I got into one, where I had an 
opportunity of seeing the Arabic take her final dip in the 
ocean. She caused a great suction, and the water turned it 
into whirlpools, which drew the various lifeboats and rafts 
into it and twisted them round and round, and made one 
think they were finally going to be submerged and sent to 
the bottom. 

I saw several women, men, and children in the water strug- 
gling for their lives. Our boat proceeded towards two men 
in the water who had life-saving apparatus on. We rescued 
them by dragging them into the boat. 

Here again the tragedy is illuminated by deeds of 
noble heroism. The third engineer, a man named 
London, stood by his engines, to carry out the orders 
from the bridge that would help in rescuing the pas- 
sengers. He went down with the ship. This man and 
others remained unflinchingly at their posts, and gave 
up their lives that others might live. 

145 



OBSTACLES TO PEACE 

New horrors were added to the sinking of the An- 
cona, an Italian passenger ship, which was sunk in the 
Mediterranean November 7, 1915. 

In this instance the submarine carried more power- 
ful guns than other submarines which had been active, 
and when yet afar off brought the ship under a heavy 
bombardment, killing and injuring passengers. Then, 
without pause, although the Ancona stopped, a torpedo 
was fired hitting the ship in a vulnerable spot. Amid 
the piteous screaming of women and the heartrending 
panic of the children, the captain and his officers 
endeavored to transfer their human freight to the 
boats. While this work of mercy was still in progress, 
the submarine continued the deadly onslaught from 
her guns, pouring shot after shot on the ship and on 
the boats with callous indifference. The only explana- 
tion from Vienna of this tragedy, which closed in death 
the eyes of over two hundred men, women, and chil- 
dren, was that the "Ancona had tried to escape." 
This was the excuse made in an Austrian official 
communique. The real facts, ascertained after the 
fullest inquiry, were set forth by the Italian Govern- 
ment : — 

The Austrian communique is false in its fundamental facts. 
All the survivors of the Ancona testify that the submarine 
made no signal whatsoever to bring the ship to a stop, nor 
did it even fire a blank warning shot. This armed aggression 
took place without any preliminary warning. 

The Ancona was bound for New York, and could not 
have been carrying either such passengers or cargo as could 
justify capture, and, therefore, she had no reason for at- 
tempting to avoid examination. Moreover, it is a false and 
malicious assertion to state that the loss of so many human 
lives was due to the conduct of the crew. On the contrary, 

146 



THE SUBMARINE 

the bombardment by the submarine continued after the An- 
cona had stopped, and was also directed against the boats 
filled with people, thereby causing numerous victims. 

One of the third-class passengers of the Ancona who 
escaped by a miracle has described the scenes of suffer- 
ing and agony which the crew of the submarine wit- 
nessed without one pang of regret : — 

Exactly at one o'clock on Monday afternoon, we sighted 
a submarine at a great distance. She came up to the surface 
and made full speed in our direction, firing as she did so a 
shot which went wide across our bows. We took this to be 
a warning to stop; immediately there was the wildest panic 
on board, not only among the women and children, but 
among the men too. The former screamed piteously, and 
the frightened children clung desperately to their mothers. 

Meantime, the submarine continued to shell us, while 
gaining rapidly upon us. After the fifth shot the chart- 
house was partly carried away, and another shot completely 
destroyed it. The engines then ceased going and the Ancona 
was at a standstill. The submarine, which we could now 
see dimly, was Austrian. She came alongside, and then we 
heard the commander talking to the captain of the Ancona. 
In a somewhat curt manner we were told that the Austrian 
commander had given a few minutes' time for the passengers 
and crew to abandon the ship. Then the submarine with- 
drew to a little distance. 

No time was lost in making the necessary arrangements, 
but soon there ensued a regular pandemonium. All the 
passengers, women and men, big and little, appeared to have 
completely lost their heads. The submarine continued to 
fire around the vessel. There was a rush for the boats, which 
were being lowered. The passengers got into the boats, but 
in the confusion many of them were not altogether free from 
the davits and were overturned by their heavy load, the 
occupants being thrown into the water. 

Many struggled before our eyes until they were drowned. 
The shrieks of the women and children rent the air, but no 

147 



OBSTACLES TO PEACE 

help, it appeared, could be given. . . . During this indescrib- 
able and heartrending scene the submarine continued to 
discharge shot after shot. Such ruthless conduct was all the 
more incomprehensible as not one shot was directed at the 
ship itself, the assailants firing all round the vessel as if to 
create as much terror as possible. 

The next great tragedy was the sinking of the Persia, 
bound from London to Bombay. The ship sunk in five 
minutes. There were five hundred and fifty people on 
board, including twenty Americans. Three hundred 
and eighty-five perished. 

Submarine Warfare on Merchantmen and the 
Execution of Captain Fryatt of the Brussels 

The death of no single individual so hardened the 
British determination as the execution of Captain 
Fryatt. On the 18th of February, 1915, the German 
Government announced its submarine policy as fol- 
lows : — 

Germany's war zone and neutral flags 

Berlin, February 4 (by wireless to Sayville, L.I.) — The 
German Admiralty to-day issued the following communica- 
tion: — 

The waters around Great Britain and Ireland, including 
the whole English Channel, are declared a war zone on and 
after February 18, 1915. 

Every enemy merchant ship found in this war zone will be 
destroyed, even if it is impossible to avert dangers which 
threaten the crew and passengers. 

Also neutral ships in the war zone are in danger, as in con- 
sequence of the misuse of neutral flags ordered by the British 
Government on January 31, and in view of the hazards of 
naval warfare, it cannot always be avoided that attacks 
meant for enemy ships endanger neutral ships. 

Shipping northward, around the Shetland Islands, in the 

148 



THE SUBMARINE 

eastern basin of the North Sea, and a strip of at least thirty 
nautical miles in breadth along the Dutch coast, is endan- 
gered in the same way. 

On the 20th of March, 1915, Captain Fryatt, who 
had successfully dodged submarines for many voyages 
between Harwich and Holland, noticed a submarine in 
his path. He immediately tried to ram the submarine. 
That was his crime. 

The statement of the German Government in 
defense of its execution of Captain Fryatt is as 
follows : — 

The accused was condemned to death because, although 
he was not a member of a combatant force, he made an 
attempt on the afternoon of March 20, 1915, to ram the 
German submarine U-33 near the Maas Lightship. The 
accused, as well as the first officer and the chief engineer of 
the steamer, received at the time from the British Admiralty 
a gold watch as a reward of his brave conduct on that occa- 
sion, and his action was mentioned with praise in the House 
of Commons. 

August 10, 1916, a further statement was issued by 
the German Government : — 

The German War Tribunal sentenced him to death be- 
cause he had performed an act of war against the German 
sea forces, although he did not belong to the armed forces 
of his country. He was not deliberately shot in cold 
blood without due consideration, as the British Govern- 
ment asserts, but he was shot as a franc-tireur, after calm 
consideration and thorough investigation. As martial law on 
land protects the soldiery against assassination, by threat- 
ening the offender with the penalty of death, so it protects 
the members of the sea forces against assassination at sea. 
Germany will continue to use this law of warfare in order to 
save her submarine crews from becoming the victims of 
francs-tireurs at sea. 

149 



OBSTACLES TO PEACE 

At the end of a careful analysis of law and preced- 
ents, James Brown Scott, in the "American Journal 
of International Law," quotes from the German Prize 
Code as in force July 1, 1915, which says: — 

If an armed enemy merchant vessel offers armed resist- 
ance against measures taken under the law of prize, such 
resistance is to be overcome with all means available. The 
enemy Government bears all responsibility for any damages 
to the vessel, cargo, and passengers. The crew are to be taken 
as prisoners of war. The passengers are to be left to go free, 
unless it appears that they participated in the resistance. 
In the latter case they may be proceeded against under 
extraordinary martial law. 

Mr. Scott concludes, after quoting numerous au- 
thorities from many countries, as follows : — 

If the views above expressed are correct, that there is 
nothing in the law nor in the practice of nations which pre- 
vents a belligerent merchant vessel from defending itself 
from attack and capture, the execution of Captain Fryatt 
appears to have been without warrant in international law 
and illegal, whatever it may have been according to the 
municipal ordinances of Germany. 

The execution of Captain Fryatt was strictly in 
accordance with the principles of German maritime 
laws. It was absolutely against the maritime laws of 
all other nations. The question arises, Why does 
Germany pursue a policy that insures a world hostility 
that may last for years, and amounts almost to a moral 
boycott? 

First, because she regards the English blockade as 
illegal and directed toward the starvation of civilians. 

Secondly, because, feeling justified in her use of the 
submarine, she believes that she can thereby carry out 
her political aims. 

150 



THE SUBMARINE 

With submarines that can shell merchantmen at a 
distance of six or seven miles, the submarine becomes 
in actuality a cruiser, and a cruiser with the added 
advantage of invisibility in getting to its field of opera- 
tion. 

German Submarine Laws 

The German submarine policy has caused nearly 
all the trouble that has arisen between the United 
States and Germany. Also the sinking of the Lusi- 
tania and similar events have aroused the horror of 
millions and hundreds of millions of neutrals, and have 
solidified the feelings of the belligerent countries. One 
must have known England to realize what a miracle 
the establishment of universal conscription was. Cer- 
tainly Germany's submarine policy is accountable in a 
great degree for the arousing of the English people. 

In the chapter on "Asiatic Turkey," I have ex- 
plained how Germany, by securing this region, would 
dominate the Suez Canal, North Africa, the Persian 
Gulf, India, Persia, etc. It is the absolute conviction of 
the naval and military authorities of Germany that by 
the full use of the submarine, she could get all that is im- 
plied in her Asia Minor plans. This can be achieved 
both by starving out England as to food, France as to 
coal and iron, and by hampering the supplies of men 
and munitions to Salonika, Egypt, and Mesopotamia. 

It must not be supposed that the sinking of the 
Lusitania was planned hastily and repented of after- 
wards. Germany will never admit that she did wrong 
in sinking the Lusitania. In spite of the universal 
world-horror, the identical policy was continued. Why? 
Because to Germany the submarine is the instrument 

151 



OBSTACLES TO PEACE 

whereby she can secure her aims. For the purpose of 
submarine warfare, the German Government has made 
new laws governing the status of merchantmen as to 
their right to resist capture. Under these new laws 
Captain Fryatt was executed. 

The new German laws are upheld by Dr. Georg 
Schramm, Adviser to the German Admiralty, and 
Professor Heinrich Triepel, but by no other German 
authorities. 

Professor Oppenheim, of the University of Cam- 
bridge, maintained that almost universally it was an 
accepted principle that merchant ships had a right to 
arm and to resist capture. Professor Triepel, replying, 
quotes Professor Oppenheim's statement that the pub- 
licists are in favor of the right of a merchant ship to 
defend itself and adds : — 

He is right [that is, Professor Triepel says Professor 
Oppenheim is right]. The literature is upon his side. Not 
only in the English and the Anglo-American works on inter- 
national law and especially on maritime law, but also in the 
French, Belgian, Italian, and Swedish science, the right of 
self-defense as far as I can see is generally acknowledged. 
Only in very isolated cases a doubt is ventured. The ma- 
jority of the later German writers maintain silence on the 
question. In the older writers, the English doctrine is fol- 
lowed. 1 

The new German doctrine which justifies her prin- 
ciples of submarine warfare, justifies the hanging of 
Captain Fryatt, and denies the right of merchantmen 
to resist capture, is printed in the "American Journal 
of International Law Quarterly. " 2 I quote : — 

1 Professor Triepel, in Zeitschrift filar Volkerrechts (1914), vol. vni, p. 391. 
? October, 1916, pp. 871, 872. 

152 



THE SUBMARINE 

Dr. Georg Schramm, Adviser to the German Admiralty, 
and Professor Heinrich Triepel are the chief, if not the only, 
German publicists who have denied the right of the belliger- 
ent merchant ship to arm itself against attack and to defend 
itself if attacked. In his work entitled "Das Prisenrecht in 
seiner Neuesten Gestalt," l which may be translated as 
"Prize Law in its Newest or Latest Form," Dr. Schramm 
says: — 

A merchantman has no right of self-defense against 
the lawful exercise of the right of stoppage, search, and 
seizure. Self-defense is to be understood as a defense 
against an unlawful interference with lawful property. 
But in exercising the aforementioned rights the belliger- 
ent keeps within the sphere of his recognized rights, 
and therefore does not act contrary to law. The mer- 
chantman must therefore tolerate this interference of 
the belligerent; a defense, that is, an action for the pur- 
pose of warding him off, on the part of the merchant- 
man, would, on the contrary, constitute an encroach- 
ment upon the sphere of rights of the belligerent. This 
applies in general to both neutral and hostile merchant- 
men. The latter have no exceptional status. They like- 
wise have no right of self-defense. The contrary view, 
which has been held even in modern literature, espe- 
cially English and American, and which would attribute 
to the crew of a hostile merchantman the status of 
combatants with respect to the enemy warship, is based 
not only on an absolute misjudgment of the modern 
idea of the legal regulation of warfare as an armed con- 
flict between nations, but also on a denial of the legal 
maxim which, in land and naval war, grants only to the 
organized forces of the nations the authority to employ 
armed force in both attack and defense. This view is, 
moreover, illogical; for if hostile merchantmen, which 
owing to their very status as hostile ships are with few 
exceptions subject to capture and confiscation, were to 
be granted a right of resistance, then such authority 

1 Pages 308-10 
153 



OBSTACLES TO PEACE 

would with all the more right have to be conceded to 
neutral ships, which are allowed on general principles 
to travel about freely even in naval war and are subject 
to seizure only under certain conditions (as in case of 
breach of blockade, the conveyance of contraband, etc.) 
as well as, under certain circumstances (not always) to 
confiscation. And nevertheless even those authors who 
would concede an exceptional status to hostile merchant- 
men recognize the fact of forcible resistance on the part 
of neutral merchantmen as a ground justifying the con- 
fiscation of the ship. It is worthy of remark that this 
doctrine that hostile merchantmen possess a right of 
defense as against the lawful acts of a warship of the 
enemy, while held only sporadically in the literature on 
the subject and lacking a legal basis from the standpoint 
of the modern law of war, has yet here and there been 
recognized in the prize law provisions of individual 
nations. For instance, Article 209 of the Italian Codice 
per la marina mercantile of October 24, 1877, contains 
the following provision: "Merchantmen when attacked 
by ships, even by warships, may defend themselves and 
capture them; they may also go to the defense of any 
other national or allied ships which are being attacked 
and join with them to capture prizes." Article 210 of 
the said Codice further states that in case a hostile ship 
"seen from the shore of the state" were to attempt to 
capture a prize, any national would be entitled to arm a 
ship (di formare armamenti), and go to the assistance 
of the merchantman attacked. Article 15 of the Russian 
Prize Regulations of March 27, 1895, is also pertinent 
to the subject; it declares: "This right (that is, the 
right to stop, search and seize merchantmen and their 
cargoes) is conceded to merchantmen in the following 
cases only: (1) in case of attack by allied or suspected 
vessels, and (2) when it is necessary to go to the assist- 
ance of Russian or neutral vessels attacked by the 
enemy." A similar process of reasoning prompted the 
provision of Article 10, paragraph 2 of the Naval War 
Code which recognizes the claim to the treatment as 

154 



THE SUBMARINE 

prisoners of war on the part of the crew of hostile 
merchantmen who are captured while engaged in self- 
defense or who have resisted attack in order to protect 
the ship entrusted to them. In so far as these provisions 
are not directed to the warding off of piratical attacks of 
merchantmen, they are without any legal foundation. 

It is unlikely that the world at large will adopt the 
German submarine laws. 

Did Germany intend to use the submarine as a com- 
merce destroyer before the war broke out? 

There was a discussion of the submarine in the 
London "Times" early in July, 1914. The "Times" 
for July 16, more than two weeks before the war broke 
out, contains a letter from Sir Percy Scott, from which 
I quote : — 

Sir: — In the letter which you published from me on 
July 10, 1 replied to most of the criticisms of my views which 
had recently appeared. Yesterday Lord Sydenham raised a 
further question in your columns which seems to call for an 
answer. With the greater part of his letter it is unnecessary 
for me to deal. Lord Sydenham is not a seaman, but a sol- 
dier, and he cannot be expected to appreciate the technical 
points in my argument. With reference, however, to the 
question of the attack of our commerce by submarine, he 
says: — 

Capture of vessels at sea is an old right of war. The 
right to kill unresisting non-combatants, engaged in 
peaceful avocations, has never been recognized. The 
submarine cannot capture, it must destroy. I do not 
believe that the sentiment of the world in the twentieth 
century would tolerate for a moment proceedings which 
have hitherto been associated with piracy only in its 
blackest form. Considerations of humanity apart, 
there are strong reasons for believing that this relapse 
into savagery would not serve the purpose of the Navy 

155 



OBSTACLES TO PEACE 

which so far degraded itself, and I doubt whether Sir 
Percy Scott has thought out this part of his programme. 

This I consider a dangerous and most misleading doctrine, 
because it is calculated to make the British public believe 
that their food-supply will be safe in time of war. In order 
to make its fallacy manifest, I will quote the following ex- 
tract from a letter written by a foreign naval officer: — 

If we went to war with an insular country, depending 
for its food on supplies from oversea, it would be our 
business to stop that supply. On the declaration of war 
we should notify the enemy that she should warn those 
of her merchant ships coming home not to approach the 
island, as we were establishing a blockade of mines and 
submarines. Similarly we should notify all neutrals 
that such a blockade had been established and that if 
any of their vessels approached the island they would be 
liable to destruction either by mines or submarines, 
and therefore would do so at their own risk. . . . Trade 
is timid. It will not need more than one or two ships 
sent to the bottom to hold up the food-supply of the 
country. 

I am, Sir, your obedient servant, 

Percy Scott, &c. 

In the " Political Science Quarterly " for December, 
1916, Professor Munroe Smith, of Columbia University, 
states the legal method of using submarines : — 

Our State Department has consistently refused to admit 
that the introduction of a new weapon automatically 
changes the rules of international law. Until the law is 
changed by general acquiescence or by express convention, 
the new weapon must be used in compliance with existing 
rules. If it is unable to do any particular kind of military work 
without overriding these rules, it should not attempt such work. 



CHAPTER IX 

THE ZEPPELIN RAIDS IN ENGLAND 

When I was in Berlin last February I read the accounts 
of the Zeppelin raids in Liverpool, Birkenhead, and 
Manchester. The German Naval Staff issued this 
report February 1 : — 

One of our airship squadrons last night threw bombs over 
a wide area on the docks, harbors, and factories in and near 
Liverpool and Birkenhead. . . . Everywhere could be ob- 
served important results, heavy explosions, and great fires. 
. . . Our airship was violently bombarded at all points. 

The German Embassy in Washington on the 24th 
of February, received the following report : — 

Competent German authorities give the following details 
concerning the airship attack on England on the night be- 
tween January 31 and February 1. Liverpool docks and 
quayside factories were the principal objective. The bombs 
had good results, as a great fire was visible when the ship 
turned homewards. A large number of bridges between the 
docks were so severely damaged that for the present they 
cannot be used. In addition several ships in the Mersey 
were severely damaged, amongst them a cruiser, anchored 
below Birkenhead, and a transport steamer belonging to the 
Leyland line. A stable with two hundred horses was de- 
stroyed by fire, and the horses, with their Canadian stable- 
men, are said to have perished. The Booth line and the 
Yeoward line suffered severely, as their docks were partly 
destroyed. In addition, neighboring dry-docks and engine- 
works were destroyed, Birkenhead dry-dock and the engine- 
and boiler-works completely. In all over two hundred houses 
were destroyed by bombs and fires. At Bootle, at the mouth 
of the Mersey, a powder factory was completely destroyed. 

157 



OBSTACLES TO PEACE 

In Berlin I saw an article in the London "Times" 
by Lord Northcliffe describing a visit to Verdun. In 
one place he remarked that the German official reports 
of the situation at Verdun were as devoid of truth as 
their reports of the Zeppelin raids over Liverpool and 
adjacent territory. 

As soon as I reached Liverpool I was eager to see for 
myself what had happened. I saw nothing, for noth- 
ing had happened. No Zeppelin had ever come near 
Liverpool, Birkenhead, or Manchester. A Swedish 
journalist, who had made a most thorough investiga- 
tion soon after the reported raid, wrote to his paper, 
the Stockholm "Dagblad": — 

No hostile airship has been over Liverpool or Birkenhead, 
or, for the matter of that, over Crewe either, a place which I 
visited without finding any trace of Zeppelin damage. It 
follows that they have not been able to cause any damage 
there. The authorities in Liverpool and Birkenhead — 
towns which, as is well known, lie on the opposite sides 
of the wide Mersey River — gave me all the assistance I 
wished. I was allowed to go wherever I wished. Among 
other things, one of the directors of Cammel Laird showed 
me over the whole of this immense shipbuilding establish- 
ment in order that I might see with my own eyes and thus 
verify the facts. I saw every dock and every dry-dock in 
Liverpool and Birkenhead and every dock-bridge. I in- 
spected particularly the docks and stores of the Booth and 
Yeoward Lines. In Bootle, which forms a western extension 
of Liverpool, I searched for the "completely destroyed" 
powder factory, the destruction of which would necessarily 
have had terrible effects in such a populous part of the town 
where only insane authorities would have allowed the 
establishment of such a factory. 

I convinced myself that no powder factory has been de- 
stroyed in Bootle in recent months (for I will here only refer 
to what I can answer for from my own experience) ; that no 

158 



THE ZEPPELIN RAIDS IN ENGLAND 

dock-bridge in Liverpool or Birkenhead has been recently 
destroyed; that no docks were damaged; that the Booth and 
Yeoward lines had ships which were discharging and loading 
cargo in the docks of these lines where no trace of damage 
could be discovered; that there are no quay-side factories in 
Liverpool and Birkenhead, and no engine-works, as the 
German reports state. In Birkenhead there is not one dry- 
dock, but several. I visited every dry-dock in Liverpool and 
Birkenhead, and can bear witness that none of them showed 
any trace of damage, much less any trace of "complete 
destruction." I went through the only engine and boiler- 
works, or rather, the only establishment which could with 
any accuracy be so called in Birkenhead, and I can bear 
witness that there, instead of " complete destruction," in- 
tense constructive activities are in full swing. I completed 
my detailed investigation by making inquiries from foreign- 
ers living in Liverpool, amongst whom was the Swedish 
Consul, who confirmed the fact that hostile airships have 
never been over the town. It is to be noted, amongst other 
things, that the steamer Stockholm was lying that night in 
Liverpool, and that ships in the Mersey could not have been 
attacked and damaged without this being observed on the 
Stockholm, on which there was no one who had the least 
notion of a Zeppelin attack on Liverpool until it had been 
announced from Berlin. I received similar information with 
regard to Manchester. 

I reached London late Friday, July 28, 1916. It 
was a calm, clear, starlight night. "A fine night for 
Zeppelins," a phrase used by a young German diplo- 
mat in Brussels on a similar night last February, im- 
mediately after the Liverpool raid, came to my mind. 

But I had not heard recently of Zeppelin raids and 
I assumed that perhaps the nights were too short. 
But sure enough, next morning the papers told of a 
raid, and during my first two weeks in London there 
were other raids. 

159 



OBSTACLES TO PEACE 

This report is copied from the "Hamburger Frem- 
denblatt," and deals with the raid immediately fol- 
lowing my arrival in London : — 

The alarm and consternation in London was indescrib- 
able. The entire fire brigade was stationed with its engines 
and rescuing apparatus in the various streets and squares. 
The Nelson Memorial in Trafalgar Square was hastily sur- 
rounded with mountainous stacks of sandbags, and the 
valuable exhibits in the British and Kensington Museums 
were conveyed into the vaults beneath those buildings. 

Red Cross banners were hoisted on the roofs of Bucking- 
ham Palace and St. James's Palace, while gigantic flags of 
the respective nationalities waved from the foreign embas- 
sies and consulates. 

The population was for the most part hiding in cellars and 
underground railway tunnels. Numerous bodies of troops 
hurried through the streets to their respective stations. 
Every railway station in London, as well as the City gener- 
ally, was steeped in an inky darkness, which was only lit up 
now and again by the searchlight projections and the fire 
of the anti-aircraft guns. The damage inflicted, as ascer- 
tained up to August 3, was very serious. 

On the Thames several bridges, including the Tower 
Bridge, sustained grave injury. They have now been tempo- 
rarily closed to traffic. Numerous destructive fires were 
caused in the West India Docks, as well as in Huntington 
Street and in Woolwich, many persons being killed in the 
latter district. 

On the morning of August 3 the streets leading to the 
various hospitals were rendered for a time impassable to 
ordinary traffic, in order to permit the hundreds of ambu- 
lances to make their way with their loads of injured people. 

As may be imagined, the indignation against the Gov- 
ernment has assumed dangerous dimensions. 

I examined, personally, all the places described and 
nothing had happened. 

Another version of these raids was given in the 

160 



THE ZEPPELIN RAIDS IN ENGLAND 

"Magdeburgisehe Zeitung" in these words — these 
were the raids of August 1 and 3, and the journal gives 
a "neutral" as authority: — 

Not even the night of horror of April 26 was so terrible 
as the last two attacks. A London doctor states that the 
Germans have established a record, both in destruction and 
in creating such a state of nerves that, if you tell a man that 
the Zeppelins have so far destroyed one thousand lives, he 
will reply that he is afraid the next raid will destroy two or 
three times as many. 

Sanatoria and lunatic asylums are overfilled, and after 
each attack the number of lunatics increases. 

Rumor puts the loss of life in the attack on August 1 at 
six thousand, and in the attack on August 3 at fifteen 
thousand. 

The greatest part of the damage was done in the district 
between Charing Cross and Waterloo Bridge. Somerset 
House and the Strand and the Tower Bridge district and 
the Custom House also suffered. Charing Cross Station is 
still for the most part closed. 

People used to mock at the idea of reprisals for the Bara- 
long, but now the Baralong hangs over the householder's 
head like a sword of Damocles. 

Here is the official report. Dealing with these raids 
of July 28, 29, 31, and August 1, 2, and 3, the German 
Government sent out the following account : — 

Berlin, Saturday. 

Contrary to the assertions of the British Government, the 
general conviction reigns in London that the attack on 
August 1 was the most serious which London has ever been 
through up to the present. 

Undeniable reports regarding the airship attacks of July 
28, 29, 31, and August 1, 2 and 3, confirm that very heavy 
damage was caused. 

A hall which was under construction for a remount depot 
was completely destroyed. Most of the horses perished. 

161 



OBSTACLES TO PEACE 

At the mouth of the Humber a lighthouse was destroyed. 

A small cruiser with three funnels and one mast was 
badly damaged. 

Below Grimsby two munition sheds were completely 
destroyed. 

Ships anchored between Grimsby and Cleethorpes Har- 
bor establishments and in the neighborhood of Cleethorpes 
were seriously damaged. 

The damage caused in Hull amounts to millions. Several 
arms and munition works were destroyed, as well as other 
establishments of military importance. 

Woolwich and the surrounding districts were seriously 
damaged and several munition factories were hit. 

In the eastern suburb of London a cotton mill used for the 
manufacture of shell cases was completely destroyed. Over 
a thousand men and women have been put out of employment. 

Several large bridges across the Thames, including the 
foot-bridges of the Tower Bridge, were damaged. 

In the docks, several warehouses and landing piers were 
destroyed. Ships anchored there were partly seriously 
damaged. 

In one dock numerous ships, including a large English 
steamer, which were supposed to take provisions to France 
to the troops, were destroyed by fire. 

Many persons were wounded, some seriously, by the anti- 
aircraft fire. 

In the Thames a torpedo-boat was hit by our bombs and 
sank. 

In Oxted, near London, two munition factories were de- 
stroyed; the surroundings of the factories were still on fire 
the next day. 1 

The above report is pure imagination. 

On the night of Saturday, September 3, there was 
a raid in which a Zeppelin fell in flames at Cuffley. 
I quote a description of that raid from the Leipzig 
"Neueste Nachrichten": — 

1 Wireless press. 
162 



THE ZEPPELIN RAIDS IN ENGLAND 

A most welcome message of joy ! An air raid on England 
with the cooperation of an unprecedented number of air 
cruisers! Several naval and army air squadrons have sown 
the land of our worst foe with bombs, causing devastation 
on an unheard-of scale, and spreading a horror bordering on 
insanity everywhere from the north-easternmost extremity 
of the English coast to the south-western districts of London. 

London, above all, has been most generously dealt with in 
the way of bombs. Our unapproachable king of the air dis- 
tinctly saw the immense flames rising up into the night sky 
as with many a mighty crash blocks of houses were torn 
asunder. Filled with proud satisfaction, our heroes could 
wend their way homeward because they knew that their 
bombs had done excellently well. Old England's constantly 
improved defenses once again proved a glorious failure. 

" In London the terror at the Zeppelin attacks is indescrib- 
able." Thus only yesterday wrote a friend who had spoken 
with neutral witnesses of the German air raids. Once again 
the merciless lords of the Island Empire have been filled 
with this uncanny, overwhelming horror, and wherever their 
stricken, hunted eyes turn they behold fresh pictures of 
ghastly destruction. 

We must see to it, however, that their fears are constantly 
aggravated. They must find not a moment's security any- 
where. They must be made to comprehend that their insular 
aloofness belongs to the past, and that we are in a position 
to clutch by the throat the unscrupulous incendiaries of the 
world conflagration. Even though the whole of London had 
to be beaten into one gigantic heap of ruins we must hammer 
it into their addled brains with utter ruthlessness that the 
German people have the iron will to overthrow their worst 
foe. 

This whole statement is pure imagination. 

Perhaps the gem of all German reports on the 
Zeppelin raids is an illustrated book published by the 
great firm of Ullstein & Co., owners of the "Vossische 
Zeitung" and the "Berliner Zeitung am Mittag" and 

163 



OBSTACLES TO PEACE 

various periodicals. This book is fully illustrated with 
pictures of blazing and devastated English towns, 
factories, harbors, and ships. Besides giving all the 
imaginary stories that have appeared from time to 
time in the newspapers, the author dramatizes his 
stories, and supposes himself in a Zeppelin, which has 
already reached the English coast, and has been 
appointed to operate between Yarmouth and Nor- 
wich. The Great Central Railway unites these two 
towns. The trains on this line travel relatively slowly, 
but on this night their pace was accelerated. It was 
"flight, flight!" But above in the air there was some- 
thing moving still more rapidly. Bursting bombs hailed 
on the railway stations, destroying, tearing. The met- 
als rolled up like thin wire. A searchlight is turned 
on the Zeppelin, a bomb extinguishes it, and batteries 
which had fired in the light of the searchlight were 
silenced forever. 

The Destruction goes its way along the line, which is torn 
up beyond recognition. A train approaches at racing speed. 
With thunderous crashing, which is heard above the droning 
of the air-screws, the locomotive pitches into the ruins, turns 
over, the train burns. British troops will not be transported 
on that line for some time to come. The German Death 
swings his scythe, and prepares himself for new blows. This 
is war — war which you would have. The starved, ruined 
Germany approaches you. 

Bombs struck a remount depot. Many hundreds of horses 
were killed, torn to pieces. There must be no pity for these 
horses. It is another blow for the British front. Do the 
British tacticians require horses to storm the trenches? One 
less trouble for our comrades on the Somme. 

Another Zeppelin is approaching the coast. "Forward, 
yonder is England! " There is a ship below. Its three slender 
smokestacks are visible. On this ship fell the first iron greet- 

164 



THE ZEPPELIN RAIDS IN ENGLAND 

ing. Badly injured,, the stricken ship runs to the coast and is 
stranded. " One ship less." At the end of Spurn Head the 
lighthouse flames out. Crash down on it went a bomb, and 
the proud edifice toppled over and fell with loud tumult 
across the mole. "One mark less to steer by!" "And the 
loss is all the more keenly felt because of the difficulty of 
navigating the river up to Hull. The English Admiralty, of 
course, denies everything, as usual. Lighthouse? Nothing 
of the kind. That was a lame mule and a young, innocent 
child that the bomb fell on." 

Here in Grimsby are the most dangerous enemies of our 
U-boats — the fishermen, mine-sweepers, and the patrol 
boatmen, who sniff out the submarines. Great execution 
was done among oil-tanks, on which incendiary bombs were 
dropped. We get the words of command which the com- 
manders of the Zeppelins call out to their crews : — 

" Incendiary bombs!" 

"Quick fire!" 

Their value is millions of pounds. "Incendiary bombs! 
And in eight or ten places fire — a monstrous fire, lurid in 
the night. The place is bright as day. Panic ! There under- 
neath they are running wildly about, seeking to save them- 
selves, seeking shelter. Close by is the railway station. One 
train after another steams out of the station, and a congested 
mass of people storms the building seeking flight. Hundreds, 
thousands!" 

It was their last bomb. " The air seems to rotate, a cur- 
rent seizes the Zeppelin, shakes the gondolas, beats on the 
hull. The gigantic torch of fire is our sign-post and illumin- 
ates the great gray Zeppelin, which soars ever higher and 
higher, unapproachable as it stands out to sea!" 

Now the absolute truth is that none of the state- 
ments made by the German Government or the 
German newspapers is true, so far as any one can find 
out. 

A writer in the "Nineteenth Century" discusses the 
reasons for such fantastic statements : — 

165 



OBSTACLES TO PEACE 

Nor does it seem likely that the German Government had 
been honestly deceived by the reports of its secret agents, 
for what object could any agent have in concocting a false 
story in such a case for the government employing him? One 
is driven in such a case to the hypothesis of calculated men- 
dacity, though it is difficult to understand how anyone could 
imagine that such mendacity paid. For a falsehood about 
things so easily accessible to thousands of people must in- 
evitably be discovered and show the German Government 
to the whole neutral world in the character of a liar — as in- 
deed happened in this case, when the Swedish correspondent 
of the Stockholm " Dagblad" went to Liverpool to find out 
the truth on the spot. 

Since the above was written the German mythological 
statements about the damage done by Zeppelins to Liver- 
pool and Manchester have been matched by the statements 
with regard to ravages wrought in London on the occasion 
of a visit of Zeppelins which never took place. One supposes 
that the German Government has deliberately decided that 
the need of administering comfort at this moment (even if 
illusory) to the German people is so great as to outweigh the 
disadvantage of again appearing in the character of a liar to 
millions outside Germany, Well, the German Government 
should know its own business best. 

The German people absolutely believe these fables. 
Dr. Rohrbach, speaking of the Zeppelin raids, 
writes : — 

Even before Hindenburg's appointment our enemy Eng- 
land was made to feel that our air attacks had become more 
frequent and more severe than formerly. There is no possi- 
ble doubt that very severe damage has been done. It is also 
certain that much human life — of combatants and non- 
combatants — has been destroyed. We regret this deeply, 
and have sincere sympathy with the English families into 
which mourning has come and will still come — • more mourn- 
ing than many a man and woman in England think to-day. 
This killing and wounding of people of the middle classes by 

166 



THE ZEPPELIN RAIDS IN ENGLAND 

exploding bombs, fires, and the collapse of walls is terrible, 
but it is England herself and nobody else that forces us to 
do it. 

England is a thickly settled country. Much of the 
destruction has been in cities, towns, and villages. 
The total loss of life in the forty-four Zeppelin raids 
ending October 2, 1916, was four hundred and thirty- 
one. The loss of property was commensurate with the 
loss of life. Assuming that during each Zeppelin raid 
one hundred bombs were dropped, the total number 
would be forty-four hundred. It was stated recently 
that the one thousandth shell had fallen on the 
Cathedral at Rheims. In fact there are many towns 
in Belgium and France that have suffered more ma- 
terial damage than all Great Britain has from the 
Zeppelin raids. 

Personally I made a thorough investigation, espe- 
cially of the raids that occurred while I was in England. 
I found the English reports accurate and the German 
reports purely imaginative. 

A Zeppelin must fly very high. It looks about as 
long as a cigar. How can the commander looking down 
at the unlighted cities see the details he reports ? 

Accepting the horrible stories of the destruction 
wrought by the Zeppelin as true, there is considerable 
discussion in Germany of the ethics of the mode of 
warfare. 

Theodor Kaftan, General Superintendent of the 
Prussian Protestant Church, publicly expressed the 
hope that a hundred Zeppelins would drop bombs on 
England on the ground that it would be the best way 
of serving the cause of a world-peace. "Germania," 
the Berlin organ of the Center Party and of the Prus- 

167 



OBSTACLES TO PEACE 

sian Roman Catholics, now expresses complete ac- 
quiescence in the views of the Protestant Church 
dignitary on this subject, and in reply to the Socialist 
indictment writes : — 

We repudiate most emphatically the notion that there is 
anything in aerial warfare (which is, moreover, a perfectly 
legitimate means of attack, and, in our case, doubly justified 
for well-known reasons when applied to England) that 
Christianity can condemn. There can be absolutely no ques- 
tion of that. It is true that for the Christian war is a bitter 
and hard trial, ordained by God, and that he prays and im- 
plores God it may be brought to an end speedily. This can- 
not and must not, however, prevent the Christian regarding 
himself as the instrument of God in this same war, and from 
making use of all the permissible means at his disposal in 
order to gain victory for his nation and its just cause. 

The Munich " Neueste Nachrichten " publishes a long 
telegram from its Berlin correspondent, who says : — 

We shall continue to wage the aerial war against England 
as a war on fortified or otherwise defended positions and on 
military works as we have done heretofore. We have, how- 
ever, prejudiced the success of our superior airship weapon 
by showing consideration as far as possible for peaceable 
dwellings and art works in the neighborhood. Although 
Zeppelins have flown over all parts of London they have 
restricted their attacks to the port and docks, to Woolwich 
Arsenal, and to factories for military requirements in other 
districts. Zeppelins will not, also, in future deliberately aim 
at art collections or at buildings artistically valuable, but, 
as all appeals to their better feeling and f airmindedness have 
proved unavailing, we have determined to speak to the 
English in language they will perhaps understand better. 
Who will not hear must feel. 

Even the " Kreuz Zeitung," one of the most serious 
papers of Berlin, believes that the English newspapers 

168 



THE ZEPPELIN RAIDS IN ENGLAND 

print two editions, one with the truth about the Zep- 
pelin raids for home consumption, and another version 
for foreign countries which conceal the damage done. 

Herr Oskar Schweriner, who supplies the " Vossische 
Zeitung" with inventions from Amsterdam, seems to 
have discovered that neutrals do not believe the 
German official lies about Zeppelin raids on England. 
He says that the neutrals read the German reports, 
then read the telegraphed denials from England, and 
then look at the English newspapers. They argue 
that it would be utterly impossible for the British 
authorities to deny the truth day after day in the 
British press, and they come to the conclusion that the 
Germans are lying. Schweriner is ready with an ex- 
planation. He solemnly declares that only specially 
prepared editions of the London papers are sent abroad 
— inappropriate news being taken out of the London 
editions, and the "Zeppelin reports" being inserted 
instead. He explains that " anybody who understands 
newspaper production knows that this is a trifling 
matter, which takes only a few minutes." 

It has remained at last for Schweriner to expose "the 
facts which the British Press Department has hitherto 
succeeded, by the employment of all its resources, in 
keeping secret." 

One of the best-informed American correspondents 
is Von Wiegand, of the New York "World." After 
describing a new and more powerful type of Zeppelin 
that is expected to be able to cross the Atlantic, 
he adds this consoling remark for the Irish : — 

I learn that Ireland is outside the zone prescribed for 
Zeppelin attacks; that so far as Zeppelins are concerned 
Ireland is not regarded as enemy territory. 

169 



OBSTACLES TO PEACE 

What is the truth about the Zeppelin raids? Per- 
sonally, I examined the results of several raids that 
occurred while I was in England. The damage was 
wholly negligible. I had German and English official 
reports in my hands. I found no inaccuracy in the 
English reports. I never found a truthful statement 
in the German reports. Three times as many people 
were killed by vehicles and street-cars in New York 
City, in the last two and a half years, as were killed by 
Zeppelins in the same time. The number killed by 
accident in New York City in two years is twelve 
times the number killed by the Zeppelins in all their 
raids. The German official and newspaper reports are 
pure fantasy, and everybody in England knows it. 

What is the effect of the Zeppelin raids? 

First of all, there has been no destruction of life or 
property of any military importance. 

Second : They brought the war home to the British 
people, and were one of the chief causes that led in 
two years to the raising of five million volunteers. 

Third : The German reports, which are republished 
fully and in all the newspapers, lead the English people 
to judge all statements made by the German Govern- 
ment as of doubtful credibility. 

I can close this study of the Zeppelin myth in a 
fitting manner with an extract from a poem, entitled 
"Battle Prayer," by Pastor Dietrich Vorwerk: — 

"Oh, Thou, who art enthroned on high, 
Above Cherubim, Seraphim, and Zeppelins, , 
Thou whose sword is the lightning, 
And whose cannon the thunder, 
Send down thunder, lightning, hail and tempest 
Upon the heads of our foes, 
And hurl them headlong 
Into the dark death-pits." 



CHAPTER X 

THE GERMAN ARMY IN BELGIUM ACCORDING TO 
GERMAN DOCUMENTS 

The essential part of the German doctrine of war is 
contained in the following passages from Clausewitz : — 

Whoever uses force, without any consideration and without 
sparing blood, has sooner or later the advantage if the enemy 
does not proceed in the same way. One cannot introduce a 
principle of moderation into the philosophy of war without 
committing an absurdity. 

It is a vain and erroneous tendency to wish to neglect the 
element of brutality in war merely because we dislike it. 

Half a century afterwards his pupil Von Hartmann 
annotates his teaching for the benefit of our con- 
temporaries : — 

It would be giving ourselves up lightheartedly to a chimera 
not to realize that war in the present day will have to be 
conducted more recklessly, less scrupidously, more violently, 
more ruthlessly, than ever in the past. . . . 

The official " Kriegsbrauch im Landkriege" says: — 

But since the tendency of thought of the last century was 
dominated essentially by humanitarian considerations which 
not infrequently degenerated into sentimentality and flabby 
emotion there have not been wanting attempts to influence 
the development of the usages of war in a way which was in 
fundamental contradiction with the nature of war and its 
object. Attempts of this kind will also not be wanting in the 
future, the more so as these agitations have found a kind of 
moral recognition in some provisions of the Geneva Conven- 
tion and the Brussels and Hague Conferences. 

Moreover, the officer is a child of his time. He is subject 

171 



OBSTACLES TO PEACE 

to the intellectual tendencies which influence his own nation; 
the more educated he is the more will this be the case. . . . 
By steeping himself in military history an officer will be able 
to guard himself against excessive humanitarian notions; 
it will teach him that certain severities are indispensable to 
war, nay more, that the only true humanity very often lies 
in a ruthless application of them. . . . 

Von Hartmann continues : — 

Every restriction on acts of war, once military operations 
have begun, tends to weaken the coordinated action of the 
belligerent. The law of nations must beware of paralyzing mil- 
itary action by placing fetters upon it. . . . 

The term "civilized war" as employed by Bluntschli 
seems hardly intelligible. ... It leads to an irreducible con- 
tradiction. . . . 

Distress and damage to the enemy are the conditions 
necessary to bend and break his will. The efficacy of these 
methods constitutes their undeniable justification, since by 
them one can attain with certainty an exactly defined 
military aim. 

Further Von Hartmann says : — 

The combatant has need of passion. . . . All military 
effort requires that the combatant who makes this effort 
shall be entirely freed from the shackles of a constraining legal- 
ity which is in all respects oppressive. . . . Violence and passion 
are the two principal levers of every warlike act, and let us 
say it without fear, of all warlike greatness. 

The great General Staff declares : — 

Every means of war without which the object of the war 
cannot be obtained is permissible. . . . It follows from these 
universally valid principles that wide limits are set to the sub- 
jective freedom and arbitrary judgment of the Commanding 
Officer. 

Germany's principles of war are explained more con- 
cretely in an article that was published February 10, 

172 



THE GERMAN ARMY IN BELGIUM 

1915, in the "Kolnische Zeitung" by the adjutant to 
the Governor-General of Belgium, Captain Walter 
Bloem, as follows: — 

This principle finds its justification in the theory of terror. 
The innocent must suffer simultaneously with the guilty, 
and, if the latter cannot be discovered, instead and in the 
place of the latter; this punishment is not inflicted because 
a crime has been committed, but in order that no further 
crimes shall be committed. Every destruction of a village 
by fire, every execution of hostages, every case of the sup- 
pression of part of the population of a commune whose 
inhabitants have taken up arms against our troops, is far 
less an act of vengeance than a warning sign to the territory 
not as yet occupied. 

And this cannot be doubted. The burning of Battice, 
Herve, Louvain, and Dinant was a series of warnings. 

War is not a society diversion. It is an annex of hell. He 
who puts his finger in it burns his hand, his soul, and loses 
his life. It was thus that the poor Belgian people, blinded 
and led astray, fell a victim to it. 

Extract from a Proclamation to the Municipal Authorities 

of the City of Liege 

August 22, 191£. 

The inhabitants of the town of Andenne, after having 
declared their peaceful intentions, have made a surprise 
attack on our troops. 

It is with my consent that the Commander-in-Chief has 
ordered the whole town to be burned and that about one 
hundred people have been shot. 

I bring this fact to the knowledge of the city of Liege, so 
that citizens of Liege may realize the fate with which they 
are menaced if they adopt a similar attitude. 

The General Commanding in Chief, 
(Signed) Von Bulow. 



173 



OBSTACLES TO PEACE 

Notice posted at Namur, August 25, 1914 

(1) French and Belgian soldiers must be surrendered as 
prisoners of war at the prison before four o'clock. Citizens 
who do not obey will be condemned to enforced labor for 
life in Germany. 

A rigorous inspection of houses will begin at four o'clock. 
Every soldier found will be immediately shot. 

^ (2) Arms, powder, dynamite, must be surrendered at four 
o'clock. Penalty: death by shooting. 

The citizens who know where a store of arms is located 
must inform the Burgomaster, under penalty of enforced 
labor for life. 

(3) Each street will be occupied by a German guard who 
will take ten hostages in each street, whom they will keep 
in custody. 

If any outrage is committed in the street, the ten hostages 
will be shot. 

This illustrates the principle of destroying the inno- 
cent if the guilty cannot be found. 

Letter addressed on August 27, 191%, by Lieutenant-General 
von Nieber to the Burgomaster of Wavre 

On August 22, 1914, the General commanding the Second 
Army, Herr von Biilow, imposed upon the city of Wavre a 
war levy of three million francs, to be paid before Septem- 
ber 1, as expiation for its unqualiflable behavior (contrary to 
the Law of Nations and the usages of war) in making a sur- 
prise attack on the German troops. 

_ The General in command of the Second Army has just 
given to the General commanding this station of the Second 
Army the order to send in, without delay, this contribution 
which it should pay on account of its conduct. 

I order and command you to give to the bearer of the 
present letter the two first instalments, that is to say, two 
million francs in gold. 

Furthermore, I require that you give the bearer a letter 

174 



THE GERMAN ARMY IN BELGIUM 

duly sealed with the seal of the city, stating that the bal- 
ance, that is to say, one million francs, will be paid, without 
fail, on the first of September. 

I draw the attention of the City to the fact that in no 
case can it count on further delay, as the civil population of 
the City has put itself outside the Law of Nations by firing 
on the German soldiers. 

The City of Wavre will be burned and destroyed if the 
levy is not paid in due time, without regard for any one; 
the innocent will suffer with the guilty. 

In a proclamation of September 8, 1914, signed 
"Dieckmann, Major in Command," appears the 
following : — 

In order to be sure that this permission is not abused, the 
Burgomasters of Beyne-Heusay and of Grivegnee shall 
immediately draw up a list of persons who shall be held as 
hostages, at the fort of Fleron, in twenty-four-hour shifts; 
on September 6, for the first time, from six o'clock in the 
evening until midday, September 7. 

The life of these hostages will depend upon the population 
of the aforesaid communes remaining pacific under all cir- 
cumstances. 

I will designate from the lists submitted to me the persons 
who will be detained as hostages from noon of one day to 
noon of the next day. If the substitute does not arrive in 
time, the hostage will remain another twenty-four hours. 
After this second period of twenty-four hours, the hostage 
incurs the penalty of death if the substitution is not made. 

Hostages be will chosen, primarily, from among Priests, 
Burgomasters, and other members of the civic administra- 
tion. 

Notice posted at Brussels, November 1, 1914- 

A legally constituted Court Martial has pronounced, the 
28th of October, 1914, the following condemnations: — 

(1) Upon Policeman De Ryckere for attacking, in the 
exercise of his legal functions, an agent vested with German 

175 



OBSTACLES TO PEACE 

authority, for willfully inflicting bodily injury on two occa- 
sions, in concert with other persons, for facilitating the 
escape of a prisoner, on one occasion, and for attacking a 
German soldier — Five years imprisonment. 

(2) Upon Policeman Seghers for attacking, in the exercise 
of his legal functions, an agent vested with German author- 
ity, for willfully inflicting bodily injury upon said German 
agent, and for facilitating the escape of a prisoner (all these 
offenses constituting a single act) — Three years imprison- 
ment. 

These sentences have been confirmed by Governor Gen- 
eral Baron von der Goltz, on October 31, 1914. 

The city of Brussels, excluding suburbs, has been punished 
for the crime committed by its policeman De Ryckere 
against a German soldier by an additional fine of five million 
francs. 

The Governor of Brussels, 
(Signed) Baron von Luetwitz, 

General. 
Brussels, November 1, 191%. 



Proclamation posted in Brussels, September 25, 1914 
(General Government in Belgium) 

It has happened recently, in some places which are not 
at the present time occupied by strong forces of German 
troops, military convoys or patrolling parties have been 
attacked by surprise by the inhabitants. 

I draw the attention of the public to the fact that a record 
is kept of the towns and villages in the vicinity of which 
such attacks have taken place and that they must expect 
their punishment as soon as German troops pass near by. 

The Governor-General of Belgium, 
(Signed) Baron von der Goltz, 

Field Marshal. 
Brussels, 25th September. 



176 



THE GERMAN ARMY IN BELGIUM 

Notice posted at Brussels, October 5, 191£, and presumably 
in most of the Communes in the country 

On the evening of September 25, the railway and telegraph 
lines were destroyed on the Lovenjoul-Vertryck line. 

Consequently, the two above-mentioned places, on the 
morning of September 30, had to give an account and to 
furnish hostages. 

In the future, the communities in the vicinity of a place 
where such things happen (no matter whether or not they 
are accomplices) will be punished without mercy. 

To this end, hostages have been taken from all places in 
the vicinity of railroad lines, menaced by such attacks, and, 
at the first attempt to destroy the railroad tracks or the 
telegraph or telephone wires, they will be immediately shot. 

Furthermore, all troops in charge of the protection of the 
railroad lines have received orders to shoot any person 
approaching, in a suspicious manner, the railroad tracks or 
the telegraph or telephone lines. 

The Governor-General of Belgium, 
(Signed) Baron von der Goltz, 

Field Marshal. 

One must recall the fact that during the siege of 
Antwerp (which terminated only on the 9th of Octo- 
ber) Belgian patrols were penetrating into the midst 
of the German troops, venturing thirty-five miles and 
more from Antwerp, their mission being to harass the 
enemy's communications and to destroy the railways 
and the telegraph and telephone lines. It was one of 
these bodies of Belgian cyclists which cut the railway 
and the telegraph line between Louvain and Tirlemont 
on September 25, 1914. 

Notice 

All damage done to the telegraph, telephone, or railway 
lines will be punished by the Military Court. According to 

177 



OBSTACLES TO PEACE 






the circumstances, the guilty person will be condemned to 
death. If the guilty person is not seized the severest measures 
will be taken against the commune in which the damage has 
been done. 

The General Government. 1 

On the 29th of August, 1914, at Munster, General 
von Bissing addressed the population of the seat of the 
Seventh Army Corps in a proclamation which con- 
tained the following words : — 

If a blind and infuriated population miserably slaughters, 
in treacherous attacks, the valiant sons of our people, who 
go to meet death for their country, as well as the wounded, 
the medical officers, and the ambulance-bearers; if (armed) 
bands compromise the security of the armies on their rear, 
then self-preservation commands us, and it is a sacred duty 
on the part of military commandants, to combat them imme- 
diately by extreme measures. In such a case the innocent 
must suffer with the guilty. In their repeated communiques 
the directors of our army have allowed no doubt to subsist 
in this respect. That in the repression of infamy human 
lives cannot be spared, and that isolated houses, flourishing 
villages and even entire towns are annihilated, is assuredly 
regrettable, but this must not excite ill-timed sentimentality. 
All this must not in our eyes weigh as much as the life of a 
single one of our brave soldiers. That is self-evident, and 
properly speaking, there is no need to say it. . . . Who speaks 
here of barbarism commits a crime. The rigorous accomplish- 
ment of duty is the emanation of a high Kulttjr, and in that 
the population of the enemy countries can learn a lesson 
from our army. 

As fresh attempts at assassination have been made upon 
persons forming part of the German army I have had per- 
sons from many localities arrested as hostages. These will 
guarantee with their lives that no inhabitant will again dare 

1 Printed by H. A. Heymann, Berlin, S.W. (Posted at Tervueren; copy 
made 15th of April, 1915.) 

178 



THE GERMAN ARMY IN BELGIUM 

to commit a malevolent action against German soldiers or 
attempt to damage the railway, telegraph, or telephone line, 
or other objects useful to the operations of our army. 

Persons not belonging to the army surprised in commit- 
ting such actions will be shot or hanged. The hostages of 
the surrounding localities will suffer the same fate. I shall 
then have the neighborhood burned to the last house, even 
if important towns are in question. If the hostages attempt 
to escape, the locality to which they belong will be burned, 
and if captured the hostages will be hanged. 

The Commandant entrusted with the Protection of the Railways, 

Freiherr von Malzahn. 1 

All civilized nations including Germany have signed 
certain agreements at The Hague, including the fol- 
lowing : — 

No collective penalty, pecuniary or otherwise, shall be 
inflicted upon the population on account of the acts of 
individuals for which it cannot be regarded as collectively 
responsible. 

1 Posted at Spa, Aywaille, Chatelineau ... 17 August, 1914. 



CHAPTER XI 

ALLEGED ATROCITIES OF THE GERMAN TROOPS 

IN BELGIUM 

There are certain facts that are accepted by Germany 
as well as by England and France : — 

First: That Germany has stripped the Belgian people 
of nearly all their removable property. 

Second: That by causing the provinces of Belgium 
to print currency to pay the monthly levy for the 
support of the army of occupation, by forcing upon 
Belgium the mark at a fixed rate of exchange, and 
further by actually removing from the banks the 
money of Belgium, Germany has Mexicanized the 
financial machinery and currency of Belgium. 

Third : That during the invasion of Belgium, several 
thousand civilians were put to death, and many 
thousands taken as prisoners to Germany. 

Fourth: That hundreds of thousands of Belgians 
have been deported to Germany in a manner that the 
world at large calls enslavement. 

Fifth: That hundreds of thousands of Belgians in 
Belgium and in Germany are compelled to aid Ger- 
many in her war against Belgium. 

All the above facts are substantiated by German 
authorities. 

I. The Belgian Allegations 

The student of the documents as to the so-called 
Belgian atrocities finds a formidable mass of material, 
but there are certain matters that can be cleared up 
only after the war. 

180 



ALLEGED ATROCITIES IN BELGIUM 

I propose herewith to present objectively illustra- 
tive material from the best available data. 

First, we feel on sure ground in the statements of 
Cardinal Mercier in his pastoral letter of Christmas, 
1914: — 

Belgium's unhappy fate. 

Better than any other man, perhaps, do I know what our 
unhappy country has undergone. Nor will any Belgian, I 
trust, doubt of what I suffer in my soul as a citizen and as 
a Bishop, in sympathy with all this sorrow. These last four 
months have seemed to me an age long. By thousands have 
our brave ones been mowed down. Wives, mothers are 
weeping for those they shall not see again; hearts are deso- 
late; dire poverty spreads, anguish increases. 

At Malines, at Antwerp the people of two great cities have 
been given over, the one for six hours, the other for thirty- 
four hours, to a continuous bombardment, to the throes of 
death. 

I have traversed the greater part of the districts most ter- 
ribly devastated in my diocese, and the ruins I beheld, and 
the ashes, were more dreadful than I, prepared by the sad- 
dest of forebodings, could have imagined. 

Other parts of my diocese, which I have not had time to 
visit have in like manner been laid waste. Churches, schools, 
asylums, hospitals, convents in great numbers are in ruins. 
Entire villages have all but disappeared. At Werchter- 
Wackerzeel, for instance, out of 380 homes 130 remain. At 
Tremeloo two thirds of the village are overthrown. At 
Bueken out of 100 houses, 20 are standing. At Schaffen 
189 houses out of 200 are destroyed; 11 still stand. At 
Louvain the third part of the buildings are down; 1074 dwell- 
ings have disappeared. On the town land and in the suburbs 
1623 houses have been burned. 

The destruction at Louvain 

In this dear city of Louvain, perpetually in my thoughts, 
the magnificent Church of St. Peter will never recover its 

181 



OBSTACLES TO PEACE 

former splendor. The ancient College of St. Ives, the art 
schools, the consular and commercial schools of the Univer- 
sity, the old markets, our rich library with its collections, 
its unique and unpublished manuscripts, its archives, its 
gallery of great portraits of illustrious rectors, chancellors, 
professors, dating from the time of its foundation, which 
preserved for masters and students alike a noble tradition, 
and were an incitement in their studies, all this accumula- 
tion of intellectual, of historic and of artistic riches, the fruit 
of the labors of five centuries — all is in the dust. 

Many a parish lost its pastor. There is now sounding in 
my ears the sorrowful voice of an old man, of whom I asked 
whether he had mass on Sunday in his battered church. " It 
is two months," he said, "since we had a church." The 
parish priest and the curate had been interned in a concen- 
tration camp. 

Hundreds of innocent men were shot. I possess no com- 
plete necrology; but I know that there were ninety-one shot 
at Aerschot and that there, under pain of death, their fellow 
citizens were compelled to dig their graves. In the Louvain 
group of communes 176 persons, men and women, old men 
and sucklings, were shot or burned. 

List of some priests killed 

In my diocese alone I know that thirteen priests were put 
to death. Their brothers in religion or in the priesthood will 
wish to know their names. Here they are : Dupierreux, of the 
Society of Jesus, Brothers Sebastian and Allard, of the Con- 
gregation of the Josephites, Brother Candide, of the Con- 
gregation of the Brothers of Mercy, father Maximin, 
Capuchin, and Father Vincent, Conventual; Lombaerts, 
parish priest at Boven-Loo; Goris, Parish priest at Autgaer- 
den; Carette, professor at the Episcopal College of Louvain; 
de Clerck, parish priest at Bueken; d 'Argent, parish priest 
at Gelrode, and Wouters Jean, parish priest at PontrBrule. 
We have reason to believe that the parish priest of Herenta, 
Van Bladel, an old man of seventy-one, was also killed. Until 
now, however, his body has not been found. 

182 



ALLEGED ATROCITIES IN BELGIUM 

One of these, the parish priest of Gelrode, suffered, I be- 
lieve, a veritable martyrdom. I made a pilgrimage to his 
grave, and amid the little flock which so lately he had been 
feeding with the zeal of an apostle, there did I pray to Him 
that from the height of Heaven He would guard His parish, 
His diocese, His country. 

(I have said that thirteen ecclesiastics had been shot 
within the Diocese of Malines. There were, to my own 
actual personal knowledge, more than thirty in the Diocese 
of Namur, ToUrnai, and Liege: — Schlogel, parish priest of 
Hastiere; Gille, parish priest of Couvin; Pieret, curate at 
Etalle; Alexandre, curate at Mussy-la-Ville; Marechal, 
seminarist at Maissin; the Reverend Father Gillet, Bene- 
dictine of Maredsous; the Reverend Father Nicolas, Pre- 
monstratensian of the Abbey of Leffe; two brothers of the 
same abbey; one brother of the Congregation of Oblates; 
Poskin, parish priest of Surice; Hotlet, parish priest of Les 
Alloux; Georges, parish priest of Tintigny; Glouden, parish 
priest of Latour; Zenden, retired parish priest at Latout; 
Jacques, a priest; Druet, parish priest of Acoz; Hollart, 
parish priest of Roselies; Labeye, parish priest of Biegny- 
Trembleur; Thielen, parish priest of Haccourt; Janssen, 
parish priest of Heure le Romain; Chabot, parish priest of 
Foret; Dossogne, parish priest of Hockay; Reusonnet, 
curate of Olme; Bilande, chaplain of the Institute of Deaf 
Mutes at Bouge; Docq, a priest, and others of God.) 

Priests did not incite civilians 

Wherever it has been possible I have questioned our peo- 
ple, our clergy, and particularly a considerable number of 
priests who had been deported to German prisons, but whom 
a principle of humanity, to which I gladly render homage, 
has since set at liberty. Well, I affirm, upon my honor, and 
I am prepared to assert upon faith of my oath, that until 
now I have not met a single ecclesiastic, secular or regular, 
who had once incited civilians to bear arms against the 
enemy. All have loyally followed the instructions of their 
Bishops, given in the early days of August, to the effect that 

183 



OBSTACLES TO PEACE 

they were to use their moral influence over the civil popula- 
tion so that order might be preserved and military regula- 
tions observed. 

Until the German Government is able to prove that 
these priests violated the rules of war the whole world 
will agree with Cardinal Mercier. 

There is also a little book entitled The "Germans in 
Belgium," by a Dutch professor, L. H. Grondys, Ph.D. 
of the Technical Institute of Dordrecht. He was 
present at the sack of Lou vain. Here are illustrative 
paragraphs : — 

Germans told me that the bombardment was to commence 
at noon, and that the town must be evacuated before that 
hour. Some nuns, alarmed, but still quite self-possessed, 
were making for their convents without undue haste. In 
the Rue de Namur I was accosted by the Professor of His- 
tory at the University, Canon Cauchie, to whom I had for- 
merly been introduced. He begged me to accompany him 
and Mgr. Ladeuze to Brussels. I promised to rejoin these 
two venerable gentlemen at the house of the Rector. 

Indescribable confusion reigned in the Rue des Moutons. 
Pale as death, the orphans were marching in an irregular 
troop. On a wheelbarrow, pushed by a little old man, lay a 
nonagenarian nun. The crowd showed immense terror and 
a wildness that boded ill. 

The Germans ordered the whole population to go towards 
the station. The majority did just the contrary, and fled in 
the direction of Mechlin and Brussels. All, men and women 
alike, who took the road indicated to them by the Germans 
were to be imprisoned and transported to Germany. While 
I helped M. Scharpe to carry his most precious treasures to 
the cellar, the Professor told me he had vainly besought the 
Commandant to spare our quarter, where nothing reprehen- 
sible had occurred. Major von Manteuffel flatly refused. 
The whole town was to pay for the pretended misdeeds com- 
mitted by some of the citizens. 

184 



ALLEGED ATROCITIES IN BELGIUM 

In discussing the causes of the sack of Louvain 
Professor Grondys gives the results of careful investi- 
gations by himself; he says: — 

The Germans assert that inhabitants fired on them on the 
evening of August 25. They explain, accordingly, their con- 
duct at Louvain as a simple application of their abominable 
theory which renders whole communities responsible for 
alleged violence committed by one of their number. 

The Belgians say, on the contrary, that no inhabitant of 
Louvain fired on the troops. The Germans, according to 
them, sought a trivial pretext to be able, without the 
shadow of excuse, to carry out a coldly premeditated project. 

I have often discussed this question with German officers, 
and particularly with Doctors of Law, mobilized in their 
army. 

They have had to admit that in all these affairs none of 
the rules necessary for the constitution of judicial proof 
were observed. Even in officers who might have wished to 
proceed in regular fashion against the accused, the precepts 
of the supreme German Staff soon weakened the sense of 
justice. Why long interrogatories, which mean considerable 
loss of precious time, when the accused is guilty, inasmuch 
as he is an inhabitant of a commune all of whose members 
are responsible for the misdeeds committed by one of their 
number? 

At Louvain houses were fired into indiscriminately. Citi- 
zens were seized on all hands, and, without even seeking any 
proof of their guilt, private soldiers shot them in their homes. 
The soldiers themselves have told me so. I need not repro- 
duce all their conversations. I need only certify that their 
poor intelligences were able to draw the unavoidable logical 
conclusions from the German theory, newly invented, as to 
responsibility in time of war. This theory gives them in 
advance entire absolution for all the injustice, no matter how 
cruel, they may commit. The enormous value of the sim- 
plest German warrior is such that if a soldier is killed in a 
town, the town is accursed, and all its inhabitants lose their 
right to live. 

185 



OBSTACLES TO PEACE 

As a result of an interrogatory of German prisoners of 
war in France, it is established that among a column which 
passed through the town of Louvain after the first day of 
disaster a panic occurred because of a rifle-shot which rang 
out. The rumor immediately spread that a soldier had been 
killed by a civilian. Forthwith the troops began firing into 
the houses. Enormous excitement and great disorder pre- 
vailed for some time, until it was discovered that no soldier 
had been wounded. Suppose that in this tumult a soldier 
had been killed by his brothers-in-arms seized with excessive 
nervousness, a new legend would then have been added to 
the others! 

It seems that during the evening of August 25 a similar 
panic seized the garrison of Louvain. The reader must re- 
member that during the afternoon of that day the Belgian 
army was approaching the town. A part of the garrison 
started out to meet it; the rest of the garrison, awaiting 
reinforcements, which arrived in the course of the night, 
certainly spent hours of anxiety. At nightfall the troops, 
which had started some hours previously, returned to the 
town. A large number of witnesses declare that those who 
remained in the city mistook their identity and fired on 
their brothers-in-arms. It is quite possible that during 
these skirmishes the returning troops imagined they were 
being attacked by civilians, and this is all the more prob- 
able as the garrison showed little zeal in enlightening 
them. 

So far one may admit the good faith of the soldiers. Now, 
however, comes in the German military theory as to repri- 
sals in time of war. If the troops attacked by alleged civil- 
ians cannot distinguish their actual assailants, why, then, so 
much the worse for the others! The whole community is 
responsible. This doctrine, adopted by university professors, 
has been promulgated by German generals in proclamations 
affixed to all the walls. Thus the devastation of Louvain is 
nothing but the logical consequence of a dangerous juridical 
paradox which is taught seriously nowhere in the world but 
in Germany. And the soldiers who entered houses and in 
their fury killed men in the presence of their wives and chil- 

186 



ALLEGED ATROCITIES IN BELGIUM 

dren, without proof and without question — these male- 
factors are guilty of nothing but a breach of discipline. 

During the days preceding the disaster I was able to see 
that the people nourished no designs of vengeance. I spoke 
with professors, shopkeepers, people generally, and I found 
among them, if not a spirit of perfect submission caused by 
the executions at Aerschot, Linden, Haelen, etc., at least a 
pronounced intention to await quietly the expected victory 
of the Allies. The persons to whom I spoke had confidence 
in me, and for that matter, they showed it by the communi- 
cations they made me. 

One piece of evidence of special gravity confirmed my 
conclusions. Two leading men of Lou vain, who are worthy 
of entire confidence, told me that on the morning of August 
26, while walking in the garden of one of them (Rue de 
Namur), they heard close to them a fusillade that lasted 
twenty minutes. Mounting a ladder, they saw, behind the 
wall which ran round the garden, two German soldiers, 
hidden among trees, firing into the street — if I am not mis- 
taken, the Rue des Moutons. Their shots appeared to pro- 
ceed from the houses, and the soldiers who passed by must 
have thought that the inhabitants were firing at them. 

The same evening I saw in the street, at the place where 
the soldiers had fired, the corpses of two horses still saddled. 
Most of the fugitives who left the town next day must have 
noticed these. Later, at Brussels, an officer told me that 
at Louvain two officers on horseback had been killed by 
civilians, and that this was why the authorities decided to 
burn the town. 

When it began to burn, the Germans observed in the pop- 
ulation a state of feeling which alarmed them. It has been 
thought that the chief object of the Germans in burning 
Louvain was to warn the people of Brussels that a similar 
fate awaited them in case of rebellion. This supposition is, 
perhaps, confirmed by the threat made at Creil and Senlis 
by German officers: "We will burn Senlis to the ground to 
warn the Parisians.'' And certainly at Senlis there was no 
motive for bombarding the cathedral and burning two or 
three streets. 

187 



OBSTACLES TO PEACE 

Professor Grondys describes the horrors of the 
flight from Louvain. He gives the following illustra- 
tion of the special hostility of the Germans against 
priests : — 

German troops and the priests of Louvain in the 
field of Tervueren 

I was the more eager to intervene in favor of my traveling 
companions, as the meadow in which they were herded had 
just been the scene of the execution of a priest, and anything 
was to be feared from the soldiers in their then frame of 
mind. 

While I was talking with the Major we were told that a 
priest carrying compromising papers had been shot. I deter- 
mined to find out all I could about the occurrence. This is 
what I learned from eye-witnesses whose evidence I was 
able to test. 

Among the inhabitants of Louvain who were flying to- 
wards Brussels, only those who wore the ecclesiastical habit 
were arrested. The guard of Tervueren first apprehended 
some thirty priests, among whom were Mgr. de Becker, 
Principal of the American College of Louvain, and Mgr. 
Willemson, the late Rector of the same College, since ap- 
pointed to Rome, but temporarily at Louvain, and several 
Jesuit Fathers. Their pockets and valises were searched. 
Nothing suspicious was found except on one of the younger 
Jesuits, Pere Dupierreux, a little notebook bearing the fol- 
lowing note in French : — 

When formerly I read that the Huns under Attila 
had devastated towns, and that the Arabs had burned 
the Library of Alexandria, I smiled. Now that I have 
seen with my own eyes the hordes of to-day, burning 
churches and the celebrated Library of Louvain, I smile 
no longer. 

This Jesuit Father had a praiseworthy habit of noting 
his impressions in this manner. But to have this reproachful 

188 



ALLEGED ATROCITIES IN BELGIUM 

reflection in one's pocket in war-time was an imprudence 
for which the poor priest was made to pay in tragic fashion. 

Before the assembled troops, the thirty priests were 
drawn up in a semicircle round the unfortunate Jesuit. The 
note was first read in French, and then translated into 
German. The priest who was reading it was interrupted by 
the exclamations of the soldiers. The Lieutenant announced 
that incitement to murder being proved, the Father would 
be shot at once. He was allowed to confess. After confession, 
his eyes were bound. 

The priests were told to wheel round. The firing party 
advanced. The order was given, and the shots rang out. 
The other priests were made to watch the death agony of the 
unhappy man. When he was dead, they were ordered to 
bury him on the spot. 

After that, the Lieutenant read the following proclama- 
tion: — 

In the name of the Emperor, I arrest you as hostages, 
to be conveyed with our column across Belgium. If a 
single shot is fired by the population on our troops, you 
will all be killed. 

I have quoted at some length from Professor 
Grondys, because he was on the spot, was a neutral, 
and writes with clarity and convincingness. 

There is another book, this time by a Belgian jour- 
nalist, Gustave Somville. It is confined to the events 
between the invasion of Belgium and the capture of 
Liege. It deals only with events in August, 1914. 
Mr. Somville at considerable personal risk followed the 
invading armies, and in some cases visited towns within 
a few hours after the occurrence of the events he nar- 
rates. He gives lists, with age and sex, of the civilians 
killed in those early days. I quote from the pages of 
the book to illustrate its character : — 



189 



OBSTACLES TO PEACE 

Francorchamps 

Francorchamps ( Francorum campus) is a summer resort. 
The German army began to pass through it on the morning 
of the 4th. It was at the news of the check inflicted upon 
them before the forts that their fury broke forth. Murders 
and cases of incendiarism date, for the most part, from 
Saturday the 8th and Friday the 14th; that is, from after the 
vigorous resistance of the Belgian army, and the second 
refusal of Belgium to agree to the German proposals. 

On Saturday the 8th, no one knowing why, the troops 
began to fire into the windows, seizing the inhabitants, and 
shooting, we are told, thirteen; three of whom were women. 
The whole population took flight, and the troops pillaged 
the houses, carried off the wine from the Hotel des Fagnes, 
etc. In the courtyard of the hotel a woman of sixty-five, 
Madame Bovy, happened to be coming forward with a jug 
of milk for the soldiers; the latter shot her, to pretend, later 
on, that she had fired upon the troops. 

Other tragic incidents were recorded. A young girl carry- 
ing a child was wounded by several bullets: the child was 
killed in her arms. 

M. Laude, an advocate of Brussels, who was taking a 
holiday at Francorchamps, fled, with his family, when the 
shooting of inhabitants began; they took refuge in a cellar. 
The Germans pillaged the ground floor and were trying to 
break in the cellar door; M. Laude and his brother-in-law 
went to open; they were shot down; the women and children 
were violently expelled; one woman gave birth to a child in 
the course of the flight. M. Laude's body was afterwards 
found in the ruins, carbonized; his brother-in-law's corpse 
was lying in the garden. 

Some of the inhabitants were led to a spot near a brick- 
field, and were shot. Finally, the inhabitants were themselves 
forced to load the stolen articles of furniture, which were 
sent into Germany. The remainder was broken, to render it 
useless, or thrown into the fire. 



190 



ALLEGED ATROCITIES IN BELGIUM 

Hockay 

Hockay is a hamlet of Francorchamps, almost level with 
the Baraque Michel, the highest point of Belgium. 

The cure, who was rather an oddity, was a Germanophile. 
The invaders fired on the houses in passing, pretending that 
a shot had been fired from the tower of the little church. 
They burned three houses and pillaged others. They exe- 
cuted a M. Cloes, who protested that his fellow-citizens 
were innocent; and they announced that other executions 
were to follow. 

The cure presented himself. "If a victim is required," 
he said, "let it be myself!" He was seized; they dragged 
him to Tiege (Sart), beating him unmercifully and subject- 
ing him to every insult. "It was he who fired," cried a 
soldier; "I saw him; he fired ten times!" In spite of imme- 
diate intervention and courageous protest on the part of 
numerous inhabitants, the devoted priest was shot. 

Lince 

Until the morning unspeakable scenes were enacted in all 
directions. . . . 

After many vicissitudes the inhabitants arrested were 
taken to the field of execution. Sixteen or seventeen were 
shot there. 

. . . Thus perished those whom the people of Lince, in- 
consolable at their loss, declare to have been the flower of 
the population. For truly it seems as though misfortune 
had descended most implacably upon the most upright and 
beneficent. 

These were the victims of Lince : — ■ 



Felicien Balthazar 


11 years 


Nicolas Ninane 


74 years 


Gerard Mathieu 


16 


Joseph Radoux 


65 


Nicolas Mathieu 


25 


Mathieu Quoilin 


17 


Alfred Pahaut 


31 


Alphonse Servais 


9 


Pirmez-de Looz 


48 


Mathieu Dognee 


75 


R. Pirmez-du Monceau 


24 


Joseph Graffaux 


39 


Melchior Nandrin 


67 


Eugene Grignard 


54 


Ulrich Nandrin 


35 


Alphonse Lebir 


43 



191 



OBSTACLES TO PEACE 



Auguste Moureau 


50 years 


Victor Lebir 


36 


Joseph Moreau 


51 


Lucien Lejeune 


32 


Alfred Duperon 


52 


Nicolas Lemaire 


69 


Leon Boulanger 


49 


Joseph Delrez 


50 


Victor Briffot 


32 


Julien Derenne 


45 


fimile Delmotte 


36 


fimile Pingret 


59 


Celestin Delcommune 


66 


Hubert Masson 


55 


Alphonse Delcommune 


61 


Raymond Flagothier 


26 


Jean Bertrand 


.59 







Louveigne: the bloody fortnight 

An old soldier said: " Yesterday we got a terrible drubbing 
in front of the forts of Liege." The Germans, indeed, wore 
a gloomy and infuriated air. At noon those arrived who had 
been burning and killing at Lince. They looted the drink- 
shops, unhappily numerous; soon many soldiers were in a 
state of intoxication. Shots were fired, to the right, to the 
left; and the officers began to shout: "The civilians are 
firing; there are francs-tireurs here!" 

It was an insane idea. For three days the inhabitants 
had not ceased to provide the Germans with everything 
they desired; they were overrun with the latter to such an 
extent that if any one had conceived the crazy idea of 
attacking them, he could not have put it into execution 
without being taken in the act. 

The inhabitants protested: — 

"No; no one could have fired. Where has any one fired 
from?" 

"There!" said the Germans, pointing; "some one fired 
from that house/' 

It was the house of M. Leonard Charlier, who had left the 
day before. 

" But there is no one there! " 

"That makes no difference!" 

The house was fired, and was soon in flames. 

A dozen men were arrested, among them men of seventy- 
four and eighty years of age, and, as always, the cure of the 
parish. They were struck and kicked, and forced to hold 
their hands in the air; they were threatened with death. 

192 



ALLEGED ATROCITIES IN BELGIUM 

The men were led out to be shot, despite the tears and 
protests of the women and the cries of the children. They 
were crowded into a little forge, situated at the northwest 
angle of the cross-roads. About half -past six they were told: 
" Go now, but on the run, or else . . ." The unfortunate 
men ran, and the Germans amused themselves by bringing 
them down with the rifle. A few escaped death by crouching 
at the bottom of a ditch or drain. 

At seven in the evening the incendiaries got to work, with 
benzine, tar, incendiary lozenges, and rockets — all the 
customary means employed by the German army. Women 
and children fled, distracted. The central portion of the 
commune was a furnace. 

I On the 15th the Germans murdered two young men who 
were quietly walking through the village. 

Here is the list of the inhabitants massacred, with their 
approximate ages. The majority left widows and orphans. 

Adam, Alfred, 52 years. Thonon, Joseph, 29 years. 

Sluse, Joseph, communal councilor Bonnesire, Hadelin, 30 years. 

Sluse, Joseph, 45 years, carpenter. Dejong, Albert, 28 years. 

Sluse, Leon, 17 years. Dejong, Joseph, 30 years. 

Kansy, Joseph, 33 years. Dejong, Georges, 17 years. 

Dethier, Arnold, 80 years. Collard, Lucien, 24 years. 

Delhase, Joseph, 33 years, butcher. Grandry, Eugene, 37 years. 

Delhasse, J., 30 years, farmer. Cornet, Victor, postman. 

Collette, Marcel, 25 years. Ancion, Camille, 25 years. 

Kerf, Louis, 35 years. Delrez, Genevieve, 25 years, wife of 
Harmant, Martial, 28 years. Martial Harmant. 

Mean-Dethiers, Helene, 40 years. Defaaz, Joseph, 32 years. 
Deenil, 70 years. 

And four others not identified, doubtless strangers to the 
commune. 

Or a total of twenty-eight victims. 
• Victor Cornet, postman, was pierced with bayonet 
wounds before he was shot. Madame Mean, who was in- 
firm, was asphyxiated in a cellar. The three Dejongs were 
brothers. Delhase, butcher, was killed by saber cuts. 

Young Leon Sluse was put to death at Theux, after having 
been tortured all along the road thither. 

193 



OBSTACLES TO PEACE 

On the 9th of February, 1915, the Germans opened an 
inquiry at Louveigne, seeking in vain to discover an act of 
aggression on the part of the inhabitants. 

Melen-la-Bouxhe: a scene of extermination 

Neither on this day nor on Wednesday was any definite 
accusation brought against the villagers. Even the usual 
"Man hat geschossen!" was not uttered. There were horri- 
ble scenes; one has not the heart to record them. The list of 
the victims' names will tell more than any narrative. 

I quote only names of women from the list of 
eighty-one victims of Melen-la-Bouxhe: — 

Benoit, Marie, 12 years. 

Brayeur, Marie, nee Weyenberg, 38 years, wife of Brayeur. 

Brayeur, Anna, their daughter, 12 years. 

Cresson, Marie, nee Franck, 40 years, wife of Andre Cresson. 

Cresson, Therese, 11 years. 

Cresson, Catherine, 7 years. 

Degueldre, Marie, 18 years, daughter of Olivier, shot and her body burned 

to ashes. 
Rouschops, Marie, nee Kusters, 42 years, wife of Pierre; their child of 5 

was saved, but had two fingers almost severed. 
Wislet, Marie, his wife, nee Dupont, 41 years, wife of Louie Wislet. 
Wislet, Marguerite, 20 years, shot and her skull smashed open with the 

rifle-butt. 

The massacre of Saint-Hadelin (Olne) 

If there ever was a peaceful spot it was this picturesque 
hamlet of Saint-Hadelin, hidden away in a fold of the hills, 
and away from the frequented roads. Well, the Germans 
discovered it, and they made of it a place of massacre and 
horror. 

The inhabitants of Saint-Hadelin ingenuously trusted 
the soldiers. War was the conflict of two armies, nothing 
more. 

Yet as early as the 5th of August there had been acts of 
violence in the neighborhood; it was learned that there had 
been victims at Foret, and it was said in some quarters that 
young men had been butchered in the fields near Soumagne. 

194 



[ ALLEGED ATROCITIES IN BELGIUM 

People began to foresee that the troops would soon be- 
come violent. 

Part of the population took refuge in the church and in 
M. Jamme's old weaving-shed. . . . 

The Fleron fort continued to fire. At eleven o'clock a shell 
fell with a crash in front of the school, killing a horse and 
wounding several men. Upon this the Germans became 
furious. They entered the house of the schoolmaster, 
M. Warnier, and arrested him, with all his family, as also 
the keeper, Jean Naval. 

"They have fired/' said the Germans. "Who has warned 
the fort of our presence here?" 

M. Warnier replied: "The fort is two miles from here. 
No one could have warned them." 

But they would listen to nothing. With an accompani- 
ment of insults and brutalities, M. Warnier was pushed 
along towards the little chapel close by. His wife followed 
him, a young child in her arms, pleading and beseeching. 
She was driven back by blows of the Germans' rifle-butts. 
Her face covered with blood, she continued to plead, but 
in vain. 

Her husband was shot before her eyes; then, in the midst 
of a scene of unspeakable savagery, she witnessed the mur- 
der of her children. Her two boys fell dead; her young 
daughters were next to be shot down. Bertha lay under the 
body of Nelly, who was mortally wounded; for fifteen 
minutes she heard her dying struggle for breath, and felt 
her die. Grievously wounded herself, and with a broken 
arm, she was conscious of the whole hideous drama. Mo- 
tionless, she heard the cries of Madame Naval, who fell 
fainting as the Germans were about to shoot her husband, 
Jean Naval, while their little boy, only five or six years old, 
pleaded with them: "Mister soldier, don't hurt papa; he 
did n't do anything; he's so good." 

Some people of that hamlet came forward in all simplicity, 
bringing provisions, — such, at least, it was proved, was the 
case with Gillet, Dhanen, Dethier, Maguet, and the De- 
wandres. All were upright and peaceable men; Maguet was 
the model of the village, a man of generous and worthy 

195 



OBSTACLES TO PEACE 

character; while the Dewandres were handsome young men, 
noted for their good hearts and obliging nature. They were 
added to the rest, and now there were a hundred persons 
awaiting death. The execution was carried out by small 
batches, at the spot known as the Ash-Tree. 

One of the doomed men, M. Polet of Ayeneux, a retired 
schoolmaster, a man of high character, was revolted by the 
cowardice of the executioners. When he was ordered to take 
up his position for execution, the old man refused with dis- 
dain; he was shot on the little hillock on which he stood, in 
an attitude full of dignity and courage. 

Survivors report that before the shooting began, Jacques 
Maguet, turning to the whole group of prisoners, recited in 
a loud, firm voice the act of contrition, which all repeated, 
sentence by sentence. Then, when his turn had come, and 
he was being pushed, with others, toward the place of exe- 
cution, Maguet raised his hat and shouted: "Vive la Bel- 
gique!" "Vive la Belgique!" repeated his companions, 
as though electrified. And the patriotic cry was raised 
again. 

"Listen to your companions cheering!" said an officer, 
who stood some distance away; he was greatly moved. But 
the demonstration merely increased the rage of the other 
Germans; they began to bawl insults at the Belgians. 
H"Ah!" said one of the survivors, "when we heard that 
shout, Vive la Belgique! we felt a shiver run through our 
whole being; we plucked up courage, feeling that we, too, 
like our brave soldiers, were dying for our country." 

h The following incident is given on page 1£5 of Mr. 
Somville's book : — 

While Hopa was led away towards Liege, his wife re- 
mained with the five children. All five were found, burned 
to ashes, in the remains of their house. It seems clear that 
this monstrous crime was intentional. " I was being taken 
away by the Germans," says a witness. " It was dark. As 
we passed the Hopas' house, the officer gave his men the 
order J;o fire and enter the house. Then I heard the shrieks 

196 






ALLEGED ATROCITIES IN BELGIUM 

of the women and children, while some one said, ' Set fire to 
the place!'" 

It was the same with the neighboring house, the Lenns'; 
and there, too, the father had been carried off. The mother 
remained with the child; they perished in the flames. 

In the mean time, at the spot known as Les Communes, 
the Germans had killed or burned twenty-eight persons. 
Here are the names of these victims: — 

Leonard Bony, 34 years. Frangois Lehane, brother of Gerard, 

Alexandrine Vieillevoie, his wife, 17 years. 

34 years. Louis Lehane, brother of Gerard 

Hubertine, their daughter, 2 years. and Frangois, 12 years. 

Gerard Melotte, 56 years. Jacques Flarnand, of Heuseaux, 

Armand Perrick, 25 years. Marie Leers, his wife, and their 

Joseph Labeye, 51 years, and his father, aged 94. 

two sons. Ida Froidmont, wife of Th. Ren- 
Jean-Denis Labeye, 20 years. sonnet. 

Mathieu Labeye, 19 years. Henry Rensonnet, her son, 25 years. 

Mathieu Renier, 52 years. Daniel Bourdouxhe, 76 years and 

Therese Renier, his daughter, Marguerite Mawet, his wife, 

20 years. 75 years. 

Olivier Renier, his son, 19 years. Josephine Bourdouxhe, 27 years, 

Noel Outers, 70 years. their daughter, married. 

Fagard, senior, missing. Her two daughters, aged 2 and 

Gerard Lehane, 19 years. 5 years. 

There were ninety houses burned in Barchon during this 
terrible night. The few that remained were plundered by 
the soldiers and are half destroyed. 

Those who were killed — all innocent victims — met 
their death in various ways. Some were transfixed by the 
bayonet as they opened the door to the soldiers who were 
battering at it; others were killed in their gardens, or on the 
road, or wherever they had sought a refuge; many were 
caught in the flames or were thrown into them. 

And so for nearly three hundred pages. 

There is a great mass of material consisting of 
diaries and letters of German soldiers. In the archives 
of the French Government I saw a collection of six 
hundred diaries and thousands of letters which had 

197 



OBSTACLES TO PEACE 

been taken, I was told, from German prisoners, or 
dead German soldiers. 

Under the title *' Germany's Violation of the Laws 
of War" the French Government has reproduced some 
of these documents in facsimile. Here are some speci- 
mens : — 

Extract from the notebook of Private Fritz Krain, of the Ifih 
Battalion of Light Horse {Reserve), 4th Reserve Corps, 
concerning the murder of a young girl. 

Carried off four bottles of wine in my bag. Our first 
bivouac in France. There will soon be a battle, I hope. 
When we went to fetch water we encountered a girl with a 
revolver. Shot her dead and took her revolver. 

r 

Extract from the notebook of Private Menge, of the 74th Regi- 
ment of Infantry {Reserve) , 10th Reserve Corps, record- 
ing the hanging of a Belgian priest and his sister. 

Saturday, August 15. Marched from Elsenborn. Giving 
three cheers for our Emperor and singing Deutschland iiber 
Alles, we crossed the Belgian frontier. All trees cut down 
to serve as barricades. A parish priest and his sister 
hanged. Houses burnt. 

Extract from the notebook of Max Peich, 17th Regiment of 
Infantry, 14th Army Corps, recording the murder of three 
men and a boy at Fumay {Ardennes). 

August 24th. The brick-works were searched once more 
and three men and a youngster were brought out of one of 
the kilns. They were shot forthwith. 

Extract from the notebook of Private Philipp, of the 178th 
Regiment of Infantry, 12th Army Corps, describing the 
massacre of the civil population in a village near Dinant. 

At 10 o'clock in the evening the first battalion of the 178th 
marched down the steep incline into the burning village to 

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ALLEGED ATROCITIES IN BELGIUM 

the north of Dinant. A terrific spectacle of ghastly beauty. 
At the entrance to the village lay about fifty dead civilians, 
shot for having fired upon our troops from ambush. In the 
course of the night many others were also shot, so that we 
counted over two hundred. Women and children, lamp in 
hand, were forced to look on at the horrible scene. We ate 
our rice later on in the midst of the corpses, for we had had 
nothing since morning. When we searched the houses we 
found plenty of wine and spirit, but no eatables. Captain 
Hamann was drunk. [This last phrase in shorthand.] 

Extract from the notebook of Lieutenant Reisland, of the 117th 
Regiment of Infantry, 12th Army Corps, describing the 
burning of several villages in Belgium. 

August 25, 1914. More burning. A village perched on a 
height was almost entirely in flames. When I saw it in the 
distance, I thought of the burning of Valhalla in the Goiter- 
ddmmerung. A magnificent, but heartrending sight. 

Extract from the notebook of an anonymous soldier of the 11th 
Battalion of Light Infantry, 11th Army Corps, concerning 
massacres at Lejfe and Dinant. 

At Leffe nineteen civilians shot. Women begging for 
mercy as we marched towards the Meuse. 

Ten more men have been shot. The King having directed 
the people to defend the country by all possible means, we 
have received orders to shoot the entire male population. 

At 2 p.m. furious rifle and cannon fire and awful heavy 
artillery fire on the Meuse. 

At Dinant about one hundred men or more were huddled 
together and shot. A horrible Sunday. 

Extract from the notebook of Private Karl Scheufele of the 3rd 
Bavarian Regiment of Landwehr Infantry, describing the 
burning of Saint-Maurice (Meurthe-et-Moselle) and its 
inhabitants. 

In the night of August 18-19, the village of Saint-Maurice 
was punished for having fired on German soldiers, by being 

199 



OBSTACLES TO PEACE 

burnt to the ground by the German troops (two regiments, 
the 12th Landwehr and the 17th). The village was sur- 
rounded, men posted about a yard from one another, so that 
no one could get out. Then the Uhlans set fire to it, house by 
house. Neither man, woman, nor child could escape; only 
the greater part of the live stock we carried off, as that could 
be used. Any one who ventured to come out was shot down. 
All the inhabitants left in the village were burnt with the 
houses. 

Extract from the notebook of Private Max Thomas, of the 107 th 
Regiment of Infantry (8th Saxons), 19th Army Corps, de- 
scribing the crimes committed by the German troops at 
Spontin (Belgium). 

August 23, Spontin. A company of the 107th and 108th 
had orders to stay behind and search the village, take the 
inhabitants prisoners, and burn the houses. At the entrance 
to the village, on the right, lay two young girls, one dead, 
the other severely wounded. The priest too was shot in 
front of the station. Thirty other men were shot according 
to martial law, and fifty were made prisoners. 

Extract from the diary of Fr. Treinen, a volunteer enlisted in 
the 237th Regiment of Infantry (Reserve), describing the 
murder of a young man near Routers (Belgium). 

October 19, 1914. The owners of this property, rich and 
distinguished-looking people, fill the air with their lamen- 
tations and call upon the mercy of God. We make a search 
and find a revolver on the person of a young man of twenty- 
one. Screaming with terror he is dragged out to the front of 
the farmhouse and there shot before the eyes of his parents 
and brothers and sisters. 

The sight was more than I could stand. After that a light 
was put to the splendid barn and everything was destroyed. 



200 



ALLEGED ATROCITIES IN BELGIUM 

Extract from the notebook of Private Willmer of the 4-Oth Bri- 
gade, Ersatz Battalion, 10th Division, Ersatz Corps, re- 
cording the 'plundering of Champenoux, at Brin (Meurthe- 
et-Moselle), and at Loupmont (Meuse). 

September 5. In the village of Champenoux — between 
the lines (station) Brin, looted busily. Some rare things as 
booty, ham and bacon, and above all wine. The village was a 
pitiable sight. Bombarded. . . . Wine and more wine. Sacks 
and cases full. Even wineglasses. The soldiers of every arm 
shared in the spoils, and plundered to the music of the shells. 

October 5. At Loupmont a fine country house, beautiful 
room with Persian carpet: slaughtered sow on it; in the 
bed sucking-pig also slaughtered. Blood running down the 
stairs. 

Diary of a Saxon officer (unsigned) 178th Regiment, 
88th Army Corps (Saxon Corps). 

r 26th August. The pretty village of Gue-d'Hossus in the 
Ardennes has been burnt, although innocent of any crime, 
it seemed to me. I was told a cyclist had fallen off his ma- 
chine, and that in doing so his gun had gone off: so they 
fired in his direction. Thereupon, the male inhabitants were 
simply consigned to the flames. It is to be hoped that such 
atrocities will not be repeated. 

■ Langeviller, 22d August. Village destroyed by the 11th 
Battalion of the Pioneers. Three women hanged on trees: 
the first dead I have seen. . . . 

In this way we destroyed eight houses with their inmates. 
In one of them two men with their wives and a girl of eight- 
een were bayoneted. The little one almost unnerved me, so 
innocent was her expression. But it was impossible to check 
the crowd, so excited were they, for in such moments you 
are no longer men, but wild beasts. 

When I was in Belgium (February, 1916) I was told 
about a mass of documents and material collected 
by Professor Jean Massart, of the Royal Academy of 

201 



OBSTACLES TO PEACE 

Belgium. Professor Massart has recently published 
this material, and it appears in English under the 
title "Belgians under the German Eagle." Professor 
Massart spent twelve months in Belgium after the 
invasion. His book constitutes a documented and 
terrible indictment. It is one of the books that should 
be tested by a neutral commission. 

From this book I make the following extracts : — 

A little further to the east the first German troops who 
had passed through Schaffen, near Diest, on the 13th or 14th 
August, had there tortured the blacksmith Broeden. All 
day long he had labored, shoeing the horses of the enemy's 
cavalry. Early in the evening he repaired to the church, 
with the sacristan, with the object of saving some precious 
articles which had not been placed in security. He was sur- 
prised by the soldiery and seized. Successively the Germans 
broke his wrists, his arms, and his legs; perhaps he suffered 
yet other tortures. When he was apparently lifeless the 
soldiers asked him whether he thought that he would in 
future be capable of undertaking any kind of labor.- On his 
replying, in an almost inaudible tone, that he did not, they 
declared that in that case he ought not to continue to live. 
Immediately they threw him, head first, into a ditch dug 
for the purpose; then the ditch was filled, leaving his feet 
protruding. 

Moral tortures before execution 

To force those about to be shot to dig their own graves, as 
they did at Tavigny, is quite a commonplace method. In 
the Fonds de Leffe, on the 23d August, 1914, they perfected 
their mode of operation. They had called up eight men of 
Dinant to bury the victims as they were shot (there was so 
much work to do that it had to be entrusted to experienced 
hands). In the evening each of the gravediggers dug his 
own grave; four were shot, and buried by their colleagues; 
just as these were about to suffer the same fate an officer 

202 



ALLEGED ATROCITIES IN BELGIUM 

"pardoned" them: not out of humanity (that would have 
been too decent), but simply because their services would 
be required during the following days. 

The most important execution was that of 123 (others 
say 127) inhabitants of Rossignol and its immediate sur- 
roundings, who were shot on 26th August. They were taken 
near the viaduct which passes over the Arlon railway station 
(towards the connecting station). They were killed in small 
groups of ten or twelve. Those who were not dead were fin- 
ished with the bayonet. Each group had to climb over the 
surrounding corpses. They kept to the last a lady of Ros- 
signol, Madame Hurieaux, who thus had to see her husband, 
and the greater part of the inhabitants of her village killed 
before her eyes. She died crying, "Vive la Belgique! Vive 
la France!" 

Extracts from a narrative by Father Gamarra, a South 
American priest y of the destruction of Louvain. 

The inhabitants fled in terror through the flames and were 
shot in the street in the most pitiless manner. No considera- 
tion was shown either to the old or to the priests (who were 
objects of special hatred) or to women or children. Whole 
families perished from asphyxiation in the cellars of their 
own houses. 

Father Gamarra reckons that no fewer than four hundred 
persons perished on that night, either shot or burnt alive or 
suffocated. The reverend priest will never forget the horri- 
ble scenes which he witnessed. 

The torture of the inhabitants of Louvain continued on 
that day, the 26th, and 50,000 of them were obliged to leave 
the town. They were taken to Hanover and other German 
towns by hundreds in cattle trucks. In the German stations 
the populace clamored for the death of the prisoners. 
Regular caravans of women were driven towards Tirlemont 
on foot for some thirty kilometres, and some of these were 
pregnant. Other groups were kept prisoners in the fields 
and on the hills and were obliged to eat raw potatoes and 
roots. 

203 



OBSTACLES TO PEACE 

The Helpless Victims 
By Mrs. Nina Larrey Duryee 

Hotel Windsor, 
Dinard, France, September 1, 191b. 

To the Editor of the New York Times: — ■ 

This is written in great haste to catch the rare boat to 
England. The author is an American woman, who has spent 
nine happy summers in this beautiful corner of France, where 
thousands of her compatriots have likewise enjoyed Brit- 
tany's kindly hospitality. 

Yesterday I saw issuing through St. Malo's eleventh- 
century gates three hundred Belgians refugees, headed by 
our Dinard Mayor, M. Cralard. I try to write calmly of that 
procession of the half-starved, terror-ridden throng, but 
with the memory of those pinched faces and the stories we 
heard of murder, carnage, burning towns, insulted women, 
it is difficult to restrain indignation. They had come from 
Charleroi and Mons — old men, women, and little children. 
Not a man of strength or middle age among them, for they 
are dead or away fighting the barbarians who invested their 
little country against all honorable dealings. 

Such a procession ! They had slept in fields, eaten berries, 
carrots dug from the earth by their hands; drunk from 
muddy pools, always with those beings behind them who 
had driven them at the point of their bayonets from their 
poor homes. Looking back, they had seen flames against 
the sky, heard screams for pity from those too ill to leave, 
silenced by bullets. 

Here are some of the tales, which our Mayor vouches for, 
which I heard : — 

One young mother, who had seen her husband shot, tried 
to put aside the rifle of the assassin. She was holding her 
year-old baby on her breast. The butt of that rifle was 
beaten down, crushing in her baby's chest. It still lives, and 
I heard its gasping breath. 

Another young girl in remnants of a pretty silk dress, 
hatless, her fragile shoes soleless, and her feet bleeding, is 

204 



ALLEGED ATROCITIES IN BELGIUM 

quite mad from the horrors of seeing her old father shot and 
her two younger brothers taken away to go before the 
advancing enemy, as shields against English bullets. She 
has forgotten her name, town, and kin, and, "like a leaf in 
the storm," is adrift on the world penniless. 

I saw sitting in a row on a bench in the shed seven little 
girls, none of them more than six. Not one of them has now 
father, mother, or home. None can tell whence they came, 
or to whom they belong. Three are plainly of gentle birth. 
They were with nurses when the horde of Prussians fell 
upon them, and the latter were kept — for the soldiers' 
pleasure. 

There is an old man, formerly the proud proprietor of a 
bakery, who escaped with the tiny delivery cart pulled by a 
Belgian dog. Within the cart are the remains of his prosper- 
ous past — a coat, photos of his dead wife, and his three sons 
at the front, and a brass kettle. 

I heard from an aged man how he escaped death. He, 
with other villagers, was locked into a room, and from with- 
out the German carbines were thrust through the blinds. 
Those within were told to "dance for their lives," and the 
German bullets picked them off, one by one, from the street. 
He had the presence of mind to fall as though dead, and when 
the house was set on fire crawled out through a window into 
the cowshed and got away. 

Now, these stories are not the worst or the only ones. Nor 
are these three hundred refugees more than a drop of sand 
on a beach of the thousands upon'thousands who are at this 
moment in like case. They are pouring through the country 
now, dazed with trouble, robbed of all they possess. 

Who can help them, even to work? No one has money. 
Even those rich villa people, Americans, are unable to pay 
their servants. There is no " work " save in the fields garner- 
ing crops, for which no wages are paid. Their country is a 
devastated waste, tenanted by the enemy, who spread like a 
tidal wave of destruction in all directions. We take the 
better class into our homes, clothe them and feed them 
gladly, that we may in a minute way repay the debt civiliza- 
tion owes their husbands, sons, and fathers. France, too, is 

205 



OBSTACLES TO PEACE 

invaded, and now thousands more of French are homeless 
and penniless. 

We in this formerly gay, fashionable little town see no- 
thing of the pageantry of war — only its horrors, as trains 
leave with us hundreds of wounded from the front. In their 
bodies we find dumdum bullets, and we hear tales which 
confirm those of the refugees. 

Will America help them? I, an American woman, could 
weep for the inadequacy of my pen, for I beg your pity, your 
compassion, and your help. Not since the days of Rome's 
cruelty has civilization been so outraged. 

I beg your paper to print this, and to start a subscription 
for this far corner of France, where the tide of war throws 
its wreckage. The winter is ahead, and with hunger, cold, 
lack of supplies, and isolation will create untold suffering. 
Paris, too, is now sending refugees from its besieged gates. 
Every corner is already filled, and hundreds pour in every 
day. The garages, best hotels, villas, and cafes are already 
filled with "those that suffer for honor's sake." The Croix 
Rouge does splendid work for the wounded soldiers, but who 
will help these victims of war? Fifty cents will buy shoes for 
a baby's feet. Ten cents will buy ten pieces of bread. A dol- 
lar will buy a widow a shawl. Who will give? Deny your- 
selves some little pleasure — a cigar, a drink of soda water, 
a theater seat — and send the price to these starved, beaten 
people, innocent of any crime. 

You American women, who tuck your children into their 
clean beds at night, remember these children, reared as 
carefully as yours, without relatives, money, or future. They 
will be placed on farms to do a peasant's work with peasants. 
These women bereft of all that was dear face a barren future. 
These aged men anticipate for their only remaining blessing 
death, which will take them from a world which has used 
them ill. 

America is neutral. Let her remain so, but compassion has 
no nationality. We are all children of one Father. Send us 
help. These poor creatures hold out to you pleading hands 
for succor. 

206 



ALLEGED ATROCITIES IN BELGIUM 

II. Germany's Defense 

I print herewith denials from high sources in Ger- 
many of the charges made as to Belgian atrocities. 
These statements express the universal belief in 
Germany. 

A writer in the "Nineteenth Century" says: — 

And quite apart from the question whether these stories 
are true, they constitute still to-day, as a matter of undeni- 
able psychological fact, the most tremendous barrier be- 
tween the two peoples — a barrier of moral disgust on the 
one side and indignant denial on the other. We English 
should do well to remember one thing. The indignant denial, 
wherever it is sincere, — and it is unquestionably sincere in 
large circles of educated German opinion, — proves this 
much, that those circles are not divided from us by a differ- 
ence of moral code. 

As far as I know, no Germans believe that their 
soldiers, except possibly in isolated cases, transgressed 
the rules of war, and all Germans believe that the 
people of Belgium grossly violated the Hague Conven- 
tions. 

Statement as to Louvain by Br. Zimmermann, until recently 
Permanent Under-Secretary of State, and now Germany's 
Minister for Foreign Affairs. 

The City of Louvain had been handed over by the 
authorities, and on Monday, 24th August, we began to dis- 
entrain troops. Billeting and intercourse with the inhabit- 
ants were proceeding in a friendly way. On Tuesday, 25th 
August, in the afternoon, troops left in the direction of 
Antwerp on the receipt of news that an attack was impend- 
ing. The General Commanding left in a motor-car at their 
head, and in Louvain there only remained troops to guard 
the station, supply columns and the territorial battalion of 
the guard "Neuss." When the Second Mounted Division 

207 



OBSTACLES TO PEACE 

was preparing to follow the Commanding Officer, and was 
beginning to form in the market-place, it was received with 
revolver shots from the inside of the neighboring houses. 

All the horses were killed and five officers were wounded, 
one of them seriously. At the same time fire was opened in 
ten other distinct parts of the city and also on the troops 
which at that moment were arriving by train and were pre- 
paring to detrain. All this was systematically done and car- 
ried out as part of the plan of the attack which was expected 
from the side of Antwerp. 

Two clergymen were found handing out cartridges, and 
these were immediately shot in the station square. The 
fighting in the streets lasted till the afternoon of Wednesday, 
26th August, and was only put down when a superior num- 
ber of troops arrived. The town and the northern suburbs 
were in flames in various places, and probably have now been 
reduced to ashes. The Belgian Government had, sometime 
before, organized a general levee against the enemy when 
they crossed the frontier, and for this purpose magazines of 
arms were established and every rifle bore the name of the 
citizen who was to use it. 

Spontaneous levees of a nation were recognized by the 
Hague Conference at the request of small States, so long as 
arms are carried, and the laws of war observed, but they are 
only admissible in order to fight against an approaching 
enemy. In the case of Louvain, the town had capitulated 
and the population had, therefore, renounced all resistance 
and the place was already occupied by our troops. 

In spite of this, the population attacked the troops of 
occupation and those that were arriving by train and in 
motor-cars, trusting to the peaceful behavior which had 
been shown hitherto, and met them with a deadly fire. It 
was, therefore, a question not of legitimate defense or of 
war tactics, but of a cowardly attack on the part of civilians; 
an attack which was all the more to be condemned, since it 
had been clearly thought out beforehand in conjunction 
with a plan of a sortie from Antwerp. The inhabitants did 
not carry arms openly. Women and girls took part in the 
fight and gouged out the eyes of the wounded. 

208 



ALLEGED ATROCITIES IN BELGIUM 

The barbarous behavior of the Belgian populace in nearly 
all the districts occupied by us, not only gave us the right, 
but forced us, in our own defense, to have recourse to most 
severe measures. The intensity of the fight is indicated by 
the fact that more than twenty-four hours were needed to 
suppress the attack. That the town of Louvain has, to 
a great extent, been destroyed is a matter of deep concern 
to us, but we had no intention to bring this about, and it 
could not be avoided in chastising the infamous attack made 
against our troops by a shameful guerrilla warfare. 

He who knows the kindness of our troops will not be able 
conscientiously to state that they are inclined to wanton 
and useless destruction. 

The responsibility for lawless and unjust procedure falls 
upon the Belgian Government, who, by arbitrarily infring- 
ing the law of nations, induced the people to act criminally 
in spite of repeated warnings given after the fall of Liege to 
prevent a repetition of these cowardly attacks and in spite of 
invitations to the people to observe a peaceful attitude. 

(Signed) Zimmermann. 



An appeal to the civilized world 
By ninety-three professors of Germany 

As representatives of German science and art, we hereby 
protest to the civilized world against the lies and calumnies 
with which our enemies are endeavoring to stain the honor 
of Germany in her hard struggle for existence — in a strug- 
gle which has been forced upon her. 

The iron mouth of events has proved the untruth of the 
fictitious German defeats, consequently misrepresentation 
and calumny are all the more eagerly at work. As heralds 
of truth we raise our voices against these. 

It is not true that the life and property of a single Belgian 
citizen was injured by our soldiers without the bitterest self- 
defense having made it necessary; for again and again, not- 
withstanding repeated threats, the citizens lay in ambush, 
shooting at the troops out of the houses, mutilating the 

209 



OBSTACLES TO PEACE 

wounded, and murdering in cold blood the medical men 
while they were doing their Samaritan work. There can be 
no baser abuse than the suppression of these crimes with the 
view of letting the Germans appear to be criminals, only for 
having justly punished these assassins for their wicked 
deeds. 

It is not true that our troops treated Louvain brutally. 
Furious inhabitants having treacherously fallen upon them 
in their quarters, our troops with aching hearts were obliged 
to fire a part of the town as a punishment. The greatest part 
of Louvain has been preserved. The famous Town Hall 
stands quite intact; for at great self-sacrifice our soldiers 
saved it from destruction by the flames. Every German 
would of course greatly regret if in the course of this terrible 
war any works of art should already have been destroyed or 
be destroyed at some future time, but inasmuch as in our 
great love for art we cannot be surpassed by any other 
nation, in the same degree we must decidedly refuse to buy 
a German defeat at the cost of saving a work of art. 

It is not true that our warfare pays no respect to interna- 
tional laws. It knows no undisciplined cruelty. But in the 
east the earth is saturated with the blood of women and 
children unmercifully butchered by the wild Russian troops, 
and in the west dum-dum bullets mutilate the breasts of our 
soldiers. Those who have allied themselves with Russians 
and Servians, and present such a shameful scene to the 
world as that of inciting Mongolians and Negroes against 
the white race, have no right whatever to call themselves 
upholders of civilization. 

It is not true that the combat against our so-called militar- 
ism is not a combat against our civilization, as our enemies 
hypocritically pretend it is. Were it not for German militar- 
ism, German civilization would long since have been extir- 
pated. For its protection it arose in a land which for centu- 
ries had been plagued by bands of robbers as no other land 
had been. The German army and the German people are 
one, and to-day this consciousness fraternizes seventy 
millions of Germans, all ranks, positions, and parties being 
one. 

210 



ALLEGED ATROCITIES IN BELGIUM 

We cannot wrest the poisonous weapon — the lie — out 
of the hands of our enemies. All we can do is to proclaim to 
all the world that our enemies are giving false witness against 
us. You, who know us, who with us have protected the most 
holy possessions of man, we call to you: 

Have faith in us ! Believe that we shall carry on this war 
to the end as a civilized nation, to whom the legacy of a 
Goethe, a Beethoven, and a Kant is just as sacred as its own 
hearths and homes. 

For this we pledge you our names and our honor. 

This document bears the signatures, alphabetically 
arranged, of ninety-three Germans, among whom are 
to be found the following: The historians Lamprecht 
and Harnack: the jurists Laband, Liszt, and Von 
Mayr; the philosophers Eucken, Riehl, Windelband, 
and Wundt; the physician Roentgen; the chemists 
Ehrlich, Fischer, and Ostwald; the zoologist Haeckel; 
the astronomer W. Foester; the economists Brentano 
and Schmoller; the philologist Willamowitz-Moellen- 
dorf; the publicist Naumann; the art historian 
W.Bode; the painters "Kaulbach, Klinger, Liebermann, 
Stuck, and Triibner; the writers L. Fulda, G. Haupt- 
mann, R. Dehmel, Halbe, and Sudermann; the musi- 
cians Humperdinck, Siegfried Wagner, and Felix 
Weingartner; finally, the president of the Reichstag, 
Arthur Kampf, and the theatrical director, Max 
Reinhardt. 



CHAPTER XII 

ALLEGED ATROCITIES ON THE GERMAN TROOPS BY 
CIVILIANS IN BELGIUM 

I. The German Allegations 

When, last January, I visited the family of Professor 
Rudolph Eucken in Jena, his daughter told me of the 
terrible atrocities perpetrated by the Belgians, includ- 
ing women and girls, on the wounded German soldiers. 
She expressed the universal belief in Germany. After- 
wards I got a copy of the Official German White Book, 
entitled in English "The Belgian People's War, A 
Violation of International Law." This book contains 
135 pages. It deals fully with Aerschot, Andenne, 
Dinant, Louvain, and other places. 

I publish herewith extracts from the German White 
Book: — 

The Belgian People's War 
Memorial 

Immediately after the outbreak of the war in Belgium a 
savage fight was started by the Belgian civilians against the 
German troops, a fight which was a flagrant violation of 
international law and had the gravest consequences for 
Belgium and her people. 

That fight of a population which was governed by savage 
passion raged throughout Belgium during the whole advance 
of the German army. . . . 

According to this evidence the Belgian civilian population 
has fought against the German troops at many places in the 
provinces of Liege, Luxemburg, Namur, Hainault, Brabant, 

212 



ATROCITIES BY CIVILIANS IN BELGIUM 

East and West Flanders. The fights at Aerschot, Andenne, 
Dinant, and Louvain assumed a particularly terrible char- 
acter. About these, special reports have been drawn up by 
the Military Bureau for the Investigation of Offenses against 
the Laws of War established in the army department. In 
these fights men of the most varied classes, workmen, manu- 
facturers, doctors, teachers, even clergymen, nay, women 
and children, were caught with arms in hand. In districts 
from which the regular Belgian troops had long withdrawn, 
shots were fired on the German troops from houses and 
gardens, roofs and cellars, fields and woods. In those fights 
means were used which no regular troops would have em- 
ployed. Thus, large quantities of sporting rifles and ammu- 
nition, obsolete pistols and revolvers were found, and num- 
erous in consequence were the wounds by small shot, and 
also by burning with hot tar and boiling water. From all 
this it is evident that the war of the people in Belgium was 
not only waged by individual civilians, but by large masses 
of the population. 

But what the Belgian civilians are especially to be charged 
with is the unheard-of violation of the customs of war. In 
different places, e.g., near Liege, Herve, and Brussels, in 
Aerschot, Dinant, and Louvain, German soldiers have been 
foully assassinated; although Article 23, section lb, of the 
Hague Regulations of Warfare on Land, forbids to " kill or 
wound treacherously individuals belonging to the hostile 
nation or army." Moreover, the Belgian population has 
disregarded the sign of the Red Cross, and thus offended 
against Article 9 of the Geneva Convention of July 6, 1906. 
Thus, Belgian civilians did not shrink from shooting under 
cover of this sign at the German troops and from attacking 
hospitals with wounded soldiers and the sanitary staff while 
in the execution of their duty. Finally, it has been estab- 
lished beyond doubt that Belgian civilians plundered, killed, 
and even shockingly mutilated German wounded soldiers, 
in which atrocities even women and children took part. 
Thus, the eyes were gouged out of the German wounded 
soldiers, their ears, noses, finger-joints were cut off, or they 
were emasculated or disemboweled. In other cases, German 

213 



OBSTACLES TO PEACE 

soldiers were poisoned or strung up on trees; hot liquid was 
poured over them, or they were otherwise burned so that 
they died under terrible tortures. All these bestialities of 
the Belgian population are an outrage, not only to the 
express obligation "to respect and care" for the sick and 
wounded of the enemy (Article 1, Section 1, of the Geneva 
Convention), but also to the primary principles of the laws 
of war and humanity. . . . 

Old men, women, and children, even when under grave 
suspicion, were spared to the largest possible degree; more 
than that : the German soldiers, although their patience was 
put to a most severe test by the treacherous attacks, often 
cared for such persons in a manner which can only be termed 
as self-sacrificing, taking helpless persons who were in peril 
under their protection, sharing their bread with them or 
giving the weak and sick in charge. 

The Belgian Government has tried to evade this responsi- 
bility by putting the blame for the things that happened on 
the German troops whose lust of destruction is said to have 
made them commit violence without any provocation. The 
Belgian Government has appointed a commission for the 
investigation of the atrocities alleged to have been com- 
mitted by the German troops and it has made the findings 
of this commission a matter of diplomatic protests. This 
attempt to pervert the facts into their reverse has failed 
entirely. The German army is accustomed to warfare only 
against hostile armies but not against peaceful inhabitants. 
That from the beginning of their entry into Belgium the 
German troops were forced by the native population into a 
defensive fight in the interest of self-preservation, this irre- 
futable fact cannot be put out of the world by any investiga- 
tion of whatever commission. 

The tales of refugees compiled by the Belgian Commis- 
sion, which are represented as the result of strictly impartial 
investigations, bear the stamp of untrustworthiness, if not of 
malicious distortion, on their face. Considering the circum- 
stances, the Commission cannot possibly test the correctness 
of rumors reported to them, or see the interrelation of the 
various happenings. Hence their accusations of the German 

214 



ATROCITIES BY CIVILIANS IN BELGIUM 

army are nothing else but base defamations which are easily 
disproved by the documentary evidence appended. 

Military Court Examination of Reservists Gustav Voigt, Fritz 
Marks and Henry Hartmann, of Infantry Regiment 
No. 165 

(1) Reservist Gustav Voigt: — 

My name is Gustav Voigt; my age twenty-four. I am a 
Lutheran and a Reservist of Company 6 of Infantry Regi- 
ment No. 165. 

In the morning o* August 7, I and seven other comrades 
became detached from our troop. We had to sneak through 
the gardens of a village closely beyond Herve in Belgium to 
look for cover. Suddenly we saw how five Belgian soldiers 
threw up their hands and wished to surrender. They hailed 
us and we approached them and noticed that they had two 
Germans with them (of the Tenth Hussars) bound with 
ropes. One of the latter drew our attention to a third 
Hussar hanging up in a tree, dead. We saw that his ears and 
nose were cut off. The Hussars also told us that the five 
Belgians had just been getting ready to kill or mutilate 
them, if we had not come up. We disarmed the Belgians, 
took them prisoners, and delivered them to a troop of the 
Fifth Uhlans who had already several captured Belgians 
with them. We joined the Uhlans to get back to our com- 
pany, and, while passing through the village, were fired at 
from cellars and windows. I do not know the name of the 
village, but it is situated between Herve and a big coal mine 
in the direction towards Liege. I myself was wounded in the 
street fighting at Liege. 

On the day previous to that incident our company was 
engaged in a skirmish of outposts to the right of Herve; at 
that time a one-year private of Company 5 of Infantry 
Regiment No. 165 was wounded and left where he fell. When 
we passed the spot the next morning we found body of that 
private at a garden fence; both his eyes had been gouged out. 
Every one of us was convinced that villagers had done this. 

On or about August 7, when we marched on Liege we saw 

215 



OBSTACLES TO PEACE 

a German infantryman — I think of Regiment No. 27; he 
showed no shot wound, but was dead, having been com- 
pletely emasculated. 
Read, approved, signed. 

(Signed) Gustav Voigt. 

(2) Reservist Fritz Marks: — 

My name is Fritz Marks; my age twenty-three, I am a 
Protestant, by trade a factory-hand; and a Reservist of 
Company 2 of Infantry Regiment No. 165. 

On August 25 our battalion marched through a village 
near Herve in Belgium. A man of the 5th company met us 
and exclaimed: "Such a dirty trick, now they have gouged 
out the eyes of one of our men." He pointed out where the 
man lay. We all had to pass the spot and there saw the dead 
man lie by the fence with both eyes gouged out. We were 
certain that villagers had done this. When on the next day 
we again passed through the village we were shot at from 
cellars and windows, and orders were given to disarm and 
arrest the villagers. We entered the houses and executed the 
order. But when the shooting continued all the same, six 
guilty Belgian peasants were executed by order of an officer. 

Read, approved, signed. 

(Signed) Fritz Marks. 

(3) Reservist Heinrich Hartmann : — 

My name is Friedrich Heinrich Hartmann; my age twenty- 
four. I am a Protestant; Reservist of Company 2 of Infantry 
Regiment No. 165. 

I, too, saw the private of Company 5 with his eyes gouged 
out. The officer in charge of our company, Captain Burk- 
holz, ordered us to search the houses of the village. In the 
house by the fence of which the body of the private had been 
found, we discovered a big strong middle-aged man who lay 
in bed and feigned sleep. We arrested him and led him before 
the officers who examined the man. He was then upon order 
shot by a musketeer of Company 4. 

216 



ATROCITIES BY CIVILIANS IN BELGIUM 

While we marched on Liege we passed a German infantry- 
man who had been submerged, head down, in a bog and was 
dead. 

Read, approved, signed. 

(Signed) Heinrich Hartmann. 



Court Examination of Musketeer Paul Blankenburg of 
Infantry Regiment No. 165 

Paul Blankenburg, musketeer of Company 7 of Infantry 
Regiment No. 165, at present under treatment at the reserve 
hospital of this city, appeared and, having been instructed 
as to the meaning of the oath, deposed as follows : — ■ 

My name is Paul Blankenburg. I am a native of Magde- 
burg, twenty-one years old; a Lutheran. 

The following statement is read to witness which he made 
in the presence of Lieutenant Reyner on October 31 : — 

Marching in closed column we passed through a 
Belgian village situated west of Herve. There were 
German wounded lying about in the village, amongst 
whom I recognized men of the 4th Battalion of Chas- 
seurs. Suddenly our marching columns were fired at 
from the houses, and orders were given, therefore, to 
remove all civilians from these houses and gather them 
in one place. While this was being done 1 noticed 
that girls, about eight or ten years old, armed with a 
sharp instrument, busied themselves with the German 
wounded. Later I ascertained that the ear lobes and 
upper part of the ears of those of the wounded who were 
gravely injured had been cut off. As we proceeded an 
orderly of the sanitary corps — if I remember right of 
the 27th Regiment — was shot to death by Belgian 
civilians firing from the schoolhouse while he was en- 
gaged in aiding a wounded soldier in the school yard. 

Witness thereupon declared : — 

The statement just read to me is true and correct. I 
emphasize once more that I myself saw how girls aged 

217 



OBSTACLES TO PEACE 






eight or ten busied themselves with the severely wounded 
in the Belgian village. The girls had steel instruments in 
their hands — ■ but these were not knives or scissors — and 
with these instruments, which had a sharp edge on one side, 
and which we took from them, they busied themselves with 
the wounded. There were fresh wounds on the ears of the 
wounded soldiers, their ear-lobes and upper parts of the 
ears having been cut off evidently only just before we 
came. 

One of the wounded, in reply to my questions, told me 
that he had been mutilated in the above-described manner 
by the girls. 

Read, approved, signed. 

(Signed) Paul Blankenburg. 

Military Court Examination of Sergeant Major Weinrich of 
Infantry Regiment No. 20 

Sergeant Major Weinrich of the Machine Gun Com- 
pany of Infantry Regiment No. 20 appeared, and, after 
being instructed about the meaning of the oath, declared 
the following: — 

My name is Adolf Weinrich. I am thirty-two years of 
age; a Protestant. 

On a day during the middle of August of this year, 
while the company was engaged in fighting the enemy, I 
was following in the rear with the wagons. At the entrance 
of Neer-Linter, I saw a German Hussar lying near a house; 
he was covered with a bag. I alighted from my horse, 
raised the bag, and observed that the Hussar was dead. 
His face was covered with blood, and his eyes had been 
pierced; both eye apples had been completely cut out and 
could not be found near by. His uniform was torn open, 
the chest was bare, and showed about twenty stabs. His 
hands were tied together on his back. I then covered the 
corpse again with the bag. 

Read, approved, signed. 

(Signed) Adolf Weinrich. 

218 



ATROCITIES BY CIVILIANS IN BELGIUM 

What German children are taught regarding the invasion 

of Belgium 

The "Times Current History" for November, 1916, 
publishes some extracts from a German book for boys 
by Ernst Niederhausen, entitled "Welt Krieg": — 

Ceaselessly marched the masses of the German army 
entering Belgium, regiment upon regiment. For these potent 
masses of troops were followed by supporting troops. ... If 
troops left their posts, others instantly took their places. 
The land of Germany seemed to the Belgians to be inex- 
haustible in defenders. 

At the sight of these beneficent forces, the hate of the 
malignant Belgians grew. In the shadows of the night, sin- 
ister ambushes were prepared. Hidden behind trees, or in 
the ditches, the Belgians fired on German troops. They even 
slew the weary soldiers who sought rest in the huts of the 
peasants, while these soldiers slept. Brigandage was rife. 
Often, the leading people of the country organized and 
directed these ambuscades. It was not at all a question of 
single acts, committed under the impulse of anger, but 
rather the execution of a plan carefully prepared before- 
hand. Breaches were made in roofs, openings made in walls, 
loopholes were contrived for the treacherous muzzles of 
rifles; houses were joined by tunnels, so that their defenders 
could flee from one to the other. Savage fusillades were fired 
in the darkness. Houses had to be taken one by one. The 
German wounded were frightfully mutilated and put to 
death: Every feeling of humanity seemed to have deserted 
the miserable Belgian people {alles Menschentum schien von 
diesem elenden Belgischen Volke gewichen zu sein) .... 

On August 25, the German troops entering Lou vain were 
received in the friendliest possible way by the inhabitants. 
The townsfolk vied with one another in lodging the officers 
in the most comfortable manner possible. 

The evening descended. Nine o'clock sounded from the 
city belfries. As by a single stroke, the windows opened. 
The flashes of a fusillade blazed forth. 

219 



OBSTACLES TO PEACE 

All the townsfolk, favored by the shades of night, began a 
combat prepared in advance, following a plan ieinen plan- 
maessig vorbereiteten Kampf), against what was left of the 
German garrison. 

It was now clearly to be seen why they had wished to 
isolate the officers, by finding separate lodgings for them. 

Daggers and pistols were ready, to rob the troops of their 
leaders. But matters fell out far otherwise. . . . 

The abominable plan had failed. The City of Louvain 
was burning. All the streets that the dogs of Belgians 
(canaille) lived in were in flames. Whoever was taken with 
arms in his hands was shot. 

The sky was red as blood; Heaven announced to the world 
how the brave German soldiers, who were fighting in a hos- 
tile land for their country, suddenly attacked, met the im- 
potent race of cowardly assassins and defended themselves 
in a struggle by night against the savage onslaught of mur- 
derers. . . . 

Everywhere in Germany I found that the people, 
from the most highly placed to those in the common 
walks of life, believed absolutely this report of the 
Government, and utterly disbelieved the various re- 
ports as to atrocities by the German soldiers on the 
Belgian civilians. 

The "Norddeutsche Allgemeine Zeitung" publishes 
(September 19, 1914), the following telegram addressed 
by the Emperor to President Wilson of the United 
States : — 

The Belgian Government has openly encouraged the civil 
population to take part in this war, which it had carefully 
for a long time prepared. The cruelties inflicted, in the 
course of this guerrilla war, by women and even by priests, 
upon wounded soldiers, doctors, and hospital nurses (doctors 
have been killed and hospitals fired on) have been such that 
my generals have finally found themselves obliged to resort 
to the most rigorous means to chastise the guilty and to 

220 



ATROCITIES BY CIVILIANS IN BELGIUM 

prevent the bloodthirsty population from continuing these 
abominable, criminal, and hateful acts. Many villages, and 
even the city of Louvain, have had to be demolished (except 
the very beautiful Hotel de Ville) in the interest of our 
defense and the protection of our troops. My heart bleeds 
when I see that such measures have been rendered inevit- 
able, and when I think of the innumerable innocent persons 
who have lost their homes and their belongings as a result 
of the deeds of the criminals in question. 

Wilhelm I.R. 
The German Military Government. 1 

II. Belgium's Defense 

The extracts I print herewith from the letters of the 
Bishops of Belgium to the Bishops of Germany, Bava- 
ria and Austria-Hungary are difficult to read unmoved. 

It is a very pathetic and heart-breaking appeal to 
Germany. If there is any sense of mercy and pity and 
justice left in the people of the neutral countries, they 
will surely demand that a neutral investigation be 
made by a tribunal so competent and so worthy of 
confidence that the truth may be established in the 
sight of all men. The Catholic Church is on trial, as 
never before in its history. If the Catholic Church with- 
holds itself and closes its ears to the most pathetic and 
moving plea ever made, and made by one great body 
of Catholic Bishops to another great body of Catholic 
Bishops, then it will lose the respect of all mankind. 
If the United States closes its ear to this pitiful and 
heart-breaking plea, then we will be worthy of any 
punishment that may be inflicted on a people who have 
forgotten God. 

It is of fundamental importance above all for the 

1 Extract. 
221 



OBSTACLES TO PEACE 






German people to have a neutral commission study all 
the facts about Belgium. Either they must be con- 
vinced of the truth of the charges and repudiate the 
policy of their military leaders, or the German nation 
must be exonerated if the charges are baseless. The 
neutral world is largely convinced of the truth of the 
statements made by the Belgian Bishops. 

Here is a report of the work of the Pax Society: 

When the alleged atrocities by Belgian civilians, including 
boys and girls of tender age, were reported in the German 
press, a society of priests (Pax Gesellschaft) in Cologne made 
it its business to follow them up by inquiring at the next 
Divisional Headquarters or even at the Berlin War Office 
for confirmation. It would seem that they were able to 
obtain an official denial in every single case which came 
under their notice. During the present year the Pax Society 
placed their documentary evidence at the disposal of the 
Reverend Bernhard Duhr, S.J., who edited and published a 
considerable section under the title, "The Spirit of Lying in 
the War of Nations: War Legends collected by Bernhard 
Duhr, S.J." Herr Duhr states emphatically that there was 
not a single instance of gouged-out eyes. His proofs include 
the denials of the story by directors of military hospitals in 
all parts of Germany. The book is interesting as a psycho- 
logical study of the effects of war upon the popular imagina- 
tion, but it may further possess historical value. The docu- 
ments collected by the priests all bear an official character 

SJ?. Se ^ m }° contradict the charges in the Government's 
White Book. 

In February, 1915, "Vorwarts" protested against a 
little work by a Pastor Conrad, of which one hundred 
and fifty thousand copies were printed and sold at 
eight pfennigs per copy to school-children, in which 
the Belgians were still accused of having blinded their 
prisoners. 

222 



ATROCITIES BY CIVILIANS IN BELGIUM 

The Belgian Freemasons ash the German Freemasons 
to investigate 1 

Painfully moved by the horrors committed in Belgium, 
M. Charles Magnet, the National Grand Master of Belgian 
Freemasonry, wrote on the 9th September to nine German 
lodges, requesting them to institute, by common consent, an 
inquiry into the facts. Since the Germans denied the atroci- 
ties of which their troops were accused, and, on the other 
hand, were accusing the Belgians of maltreating the wounded, 
such an inquiry could only have a happy result. Two lodges 
only replied. " The request is superfluous; this inquiry would 
be an insult to our army," replied the Darmstadt lodge. 
"Our troops are not ill-conducted; it would even be danger- 
ous to recommend them to display sensibility and kindness," 
replied the Bayreuth lodge. 

On the 24th January, 1915, Cardinal Mercier requested 
the German authorities in Belgium to set up a commission 
comprising both Germans and Belgians, under the presi- 
dency of a representative of a neutral country. His request 
was accorded no reply. 

Thus, the Germans refuse to allow any light to be thrown 
on their actions and those of the Belgians. Why this opposi- 
tion to a faithful search for the truth? They fear, perhaps, 
that the truth will be unfavorable to them. That is un- 
doubtedly one of their reasons; but we do not think it can 
be the only reason; and the principal reason for their refusal 
is without doubt the voluntary blindness to which they have 
one and all subjected themselves since the outbreak of the 
war. 

They have decided, one would imagine, to accept, without 
any discussion, whatever is decreed by authority, which 
they invest with the absolute truth; every German calmly 
receives that portion of the truth which the Government 
thinks fit to dispense to its faithful, and no German permits 
himself to ask for more. Magister dixit: the Staff has spoken! 

1 From Belgians under the German Eagle, by Jean Massart. 

223 



OBSTACLES TO PEACE 

Letters of the Bishops of Belgium to the Bishops of Germany, 
Bavaria, and Austria-Hungary. 

November the 24th, 1915. 

To Their Eminences the Cardinals and Their Lordships the 
Bishops of Germany, Bavaria, and Austria-Hungary : — 

As Catholic Bishops, you, the Bishops of Germany on the 
one hand, and we, the Bishops of Belgium, France, and 
England on the other, have been giving for a year an un- 
settling example to the world. 

Scarcely had the German armies trodden the soil of our 
country than the rumor was spread among you that our 
civil population was taking part in military operations; that 
the women of Vise and Liege were putting out your soldiers' 
eyes; that the populace in Antwerp and Brussels had sacked 
the property of expelled Germans. 



First German accusations 

In the first days of August (1914) Dom Ildefonds Her- 
wegen, Abbot of Maria Laach, sent to the Cardinal Arch- 
bishop of Malines a telegram in which he begged him, for 
the love of God, to protect German soldiers against the tor- 
tures which our countrymen were supposed to be inflicting 
on them. 

Now, it was notorious that our Government had taken 
useful measures so that every citizen might be instructed in 
the laws of war; in each commune, the arms of the inhabit- 
ants had to be deposited in the communal house; by posters, 
the population was warned that only citizens regularly en- 
rolled under the flag were authorized to bear arms; and the 
clergy, anxious to aid the State in its mission, had spread, by 
word of mouth, by parish bulletins, by posters on church 
doors, the instructions given by its Government. 

We were accustomed for a century to the rule of peace 
and we had no idea that any one, in good faith, could 
attribute to us violent instincts. We were strong in our right 
and in the sincerity of our peaceful intentions; and we 

224 



ATROCITIES BY CIVILIANS IN BELGIUM 

answered calumnies about "free shooters" and "eyes put 
out," with a shrug of the shoulders, since we were persuaded 
that the truth would be known, without delay, of itself. 

From the very first days of August crimes had been com- 
mitted, at Battice, Vise, Berneau, Herve, and elsewhere, 
but we were hoping that they would remain isolated deeds, 
and, knowing the very high relations which Dom Ildefonds 
had, we put great confidence in the following declaration 
which he sent us on the 11th of August: — 

I am informed, at first hand, that formal orders have 
been given to German soldiers by the military authori- 
ties to spare the innocent. As to the very deplorable 
fact that even priests have lost their lives, I allow myself 
to bring to Your Eminence's attention that, within these 
last days, the dress of priests and monks has become the 
object of suspicions and scandal, since French spies have 
used the ecclesiastical costume, and even that of reli- 
gious communities, to disguise their hostile intentions. 

Meanwhile, the acts of hostility toward innocent popu- 
lations went on. 

First protestations of the Bishops of Liege and Namur 

On the 18th of August, 1914, the Bishop of Liege wrote to 
the Commanding Officer, Major Bayer, Governor of the city 
of Liege : — 

One after the other, several villages have been de- 
stroyed; notable persons, among whom were parish 
priests, have been shot; others have been arrested, and 
all have protested their innocence. I know the priests 
of my diocese; I cannot believe that a single one of them 
would have made himself guilty of acts of hostility 
toward the German soldiers. I have visited several am- 
bulances, and I have seen German soldiers cared for in 
them with the same zeal as Belgians. This they them- 
selves acknowledge. 

This letter remained unanswered. 

In the beginning of September, the Emperor of Germany 

225 



OBSTACLES TO PEACE 

covered with his authority the calumnious accusations of 
which our innocent populations were the object. He sent to 
Mr. Wilson, President of the United States, this telegram, 
which, so far as we know, has not hitherto been retracted: — 

The Belgian Government has publicly encouraged 
the civil population to take part in this war, which it 
had been preparing carefully for a long time. The cruel- 
ties committed during the course of this guerrilla war, 
by women and even by priests, on doctors and nurses 
have been such that my generals have finally been 
obliged to have recourse to the most rigorous methods to 
chastise the guilty and to prevent the sanguinary popu- 
lation continuing its abominable criminal and odious 
deeds. Several villages and even the city of Louvain 
have had to be demolished (excepting the very beautiful 
H6tel-de-Ville) in the interest of our defense, and for 
the protection of my troops. My heart bleeds when I 
see that such measures have been made inevitable and 
when I think of the numberless innocent people who 
have lost home and goods as a consequence of those 
criminal deeds. 

The very next day, 12th of September, the Bishop of Na- 
mur demanded to be received by the Military Governor of 
Namur, and protested against the reputation which His 
Majesty the Emperor sought to give to the Belgian clergy; 
he affirmed the innocence of all the members of the clergy 
who had been shot or maltreated, and declared that he was 
ready himself to publish any culpable deeds which might be 
proved. 

The offer of the Bishop of Namur was not accepted, and 
no answer was made to his protest. 

Falsehoods of the Imperial Government 

Thus calumny was "able to pursue its course freely. 
The German press encouraged it. 

Not one voice was lifted up in Germany to take the defense 
of the victims. 

226 



ATROCITIES BY CIVILIANS IN BELGIUM 

We know that these shameless accusations of the Im- 
perial Government are, from one end to the other, calumnies 
— we know it and we swear it. 

Belgian Bishops demand an investigation 

Very well, Most Reverend Eminences, Venerated Col- 
leagues of the German Episcopate, in our turn, we Arch- 
bishops and Bishops of Belgium — revolting at the calum- 
nies against our Belgian country and its glorious army, which 
are contained in the White Book of the Empire and repro- 
duced in the German Catholics' answer to the work pub- 
lished by French Catholics — we feel the need of expressing 
to our King, to our Government, to our army, to our coun- 
try, our sorrowful indignation. 

And that our protest may not run counter to yours, with- 
out useful effect, we ask you to be willing to aid us to insti- 
tute a tribunal of inquiry with evidence and counter- 
evidence. In the name of your officiality, you will appoint 
as many members as you desire, and as it pleases you to 
choose; we will appoint as many more, three for example, 
on each side. And we will ask together that the episco- 
pate of a neutral State — Holland, Spain, Switzerland, or 
the United States — appoint for us a " superarbiter," who 
will preside at the operations of the tribunal. 

You have taken your complaints to the Sovereign Head of 
the Church. 

It is not just that he should hear only your voice. 

You will have the loyalty to aid us to make our voice 
heard also. 

We have — you and we — an identical duty, to put be- 
fore His Holiness tried documents on which he may be able 
to base his judgment. 

The German Government has always refused a serious 

investigation 

You are not ignorant of the efforts we have made, one 
after another, to obtain from the Power which occupies 
Belgium the constitution of a tribunal of investigation. 

227 



OBSTACLES TO PEACE 

The Cardinal of Malines, on two occasions, in writing, — ■ 
January 24, 1915, and February 10, 1915, — and the Bishop 
of Namur, by a letter addressed to the Military Governor 
of his province, April 12, 1915, both solicited the formation 
of a tribunal to be composed of German and Belgian arbiters 
in equal number and to be presided over by a delegate from 
a neutral State. 

Our efforts met with an obstinate refusal. 

Yet the German authority was desirous to institute inves- 
tigations. But it wished them to be one-sided — that is, 
without any judicial value. 

After it had refused the investigation demanded by the 
Cardinal of Malines, the German authorities went into 
different localities where priests had been shot and peaceful 
citizens massacred or made prisoners, and there — on the 
depositions of a few witnesses taken haphazard or selected 
discreetly, sometimes in presence of a local authority who 
was ignorant of the German language and thus found him- 
self forced to accept and sign blindly the minutes made — 
it believed itself authorized to come to conclusions which 
were afterwards to be presented to the public as results of 
cross-examination. 

The German investigation was carried out, in November, 
1914, at Lou vain, in such conditions. It is therefore devoid 
of any authority. 

So it is natural that we should turn to you. 

The Bishops solemnly affirm the innocence of the Belgian 
people and the cruelty of Germany 

We demand this investigation, Eminences and Venerated 
Colleagues, before all else to avenge the honor of the Belgian 
people. Calumnies put forth by your people and its highest 
representatives have violated it. And you know as well as 
we the adage of human, Christian, Catholic moral theology : 
"Without restitution, no pardon" — Non remittitur pecta- 
tum, nisi restituatur ablatum. 

Your people, by the organ of its political powers and of its 
highest moral authorities, has accused our fellow-citizens of 

228 






ATROCITIES BY CIVILIANS IN BELGIUM 

giving themselves up to atrocities and horrors on wounded 
German soldiers, and particulars are given, as above cited, 
by the White Book and the German Catholics' Manifesto. 
To all such accusations we oppose a formal denial — and 
we demand to give the proofs of the truth of our denial. 

On the other hand, to justify the atrocities committed in 
Belgium by the German army, the political power assert 
that the German army found itself in Belgium in the case of 
legitimate defense against a treacherous organization of 
free-shooters. 

We affirm that there was nowhere in Belgium any organi- 
zation of free-shooters — and we demand, in the name of our 
national honor, which has been calumniated, the right to 
give proofs of the truth of our affirmation. 

You will call whom you choose before the tribunal of cross- 
investigation. We shall invite to appear there all the priests 
of parishes where civilians, priests, members of religious 
communities, or laymen were massacred or threatened with 
death to the cry — Man hat geschossen [Some one has been 
shooting] — we shall ask all these priests to sign, if you 
wish it, their testimony under oath and then — under 
penalty of pretending that the whole Belgian clergy is per- 
jured, you will have to accept and the civilized world will 
not be able to refuse the conclusions of this solemn and 
decisive investigation. 

Relying on our direct experience, we know — and we 
affirm — that the German army gave itself up in Belgium, 
in a hundred different places, to pillage and incendiarism, 
to imprisoning and massacres and sacrileges contrary to all 
justice and to all sentiment of humanity. 

Fifty innocent priests, thousands of innocent faithful, 
were put to death; hundreds of others, whose lives have been 
preserved by circumstances independent of their persecutors' 
will, were put in danger of death; thousands of innocent 
people were made prisoners without trial, many of them un- 
derwent months of detention, and, when they were released, 
the most minute questionings to which they had been sub- 
jected had brought out against them no evidence of guilt. 

These crimes cry to Heaven for vengeance. 

229 



OBSTACLES TO PEACE 

If, when we formulate these denunciations we calumniate the 
German army; or if the military authority had just reasons to 
order or permit these acts, which we call criminal, it belongs 
to the honor and to the national interest of Germany to confound 
us. Just so long as German justice tries to escape, we keep the 
right and the duty to denounce what, in conscience, we consider 
a grave violation of justice and of our honor. 

No escape is possible 

And, forced by evidence, we answer you — it can be so, 
because it is so. 

In face of the fact, no presumption holds. 

For you, as for us, there is but one issue — the verification 
of the fact by a commission whose impartiality is and appears 
to all to be beyond dispute. 

We have no difficulty in understanding your state of mind. 

We, too, respect, believe us, the spirit of discipline and 
labor and faith of which we have so often had proofs and 
gathered testimony among your fellow-countrymen. Very 
numerous are those Belgians now who bitterly confess their 
deception. But they have lived through the sinister events 
of August and September. The truth has triumphed over 
all interior resistance. The fact can no longer be denied — 
Belgium has been made a martyr. 

You will say, perhaps: "That is the past; forget it. In- 
stead of casting oil on the fire, try rather to pardon and 
join your efforts with those of the Power occupying your 
territory — for it only asks to heal the wounds of the un- 
happy Belgian people." 

Can Belgium be ashed to resign herself and forget ? 

Germany will not give us bach the blood she has made to flow 
and the innocent lives her armies have mowed down — but it 
is in her power to make restitution to the Belgian people of their 
honor, which she has violated or let be violated. 

230 



ATROCITIES BY CIVILIANS IN BELGIUM 

This restitution we demand from you — from you who are 
the first and chief representatives of Christian morals in the 
Church of Germany. 

There is but one way to put a stop to these scandals, which 
is ifie bringing to the light of day the full truth, and the pub- 
lic condemnation, by the religious authority, of the truly guilty 
ones. 

But there is a question which dominates all that — a 
question of morals, of right, and of honor. 

"Seek ye therefore first the Kingdom of God and His 
justice, and all these things shall be added unto you." 

Do your duty, no matter what may be the result. 

Therefore, we bishops, at the present hour, have a moral 
and, consequently, a religious duty which takes precedence 
of all others — to seek and to proclaim the truth. 

Christ, of whom it is our great honor to be at once the 
disciples and the ministers, has said — has He not? — that 
His social mission is to bear witness to the truth: "For this 
was I born, for this came I into the world; that I should 
give testimony to the truth." 

In the solemn days of our consecration as bishops, we 
promised God and the Catholic Church never to be deserters 
of the truth, not to give it up for ambition or fear when there 
should be question of proving that we love the truth. 

Signed : D. J. Cardinal Mercier, Archbishop of Malines. 
Anthony, Bishop of Ghent. 
Gust ave J., Bishop of Bruges. 
Thomas Louis, Bishop of Namur. 
Martin Hubert, Bishop of Liege. 
Amedee Crooy, appointed Bishop of Tournai. 

Poor little Belgium! What has she done to the rich and 
powerful Germany, her neighbor, to be thus trodden down, 
tortured, calumniated, bled, oppressed by her? 



CHAPTER XIII 

EXTRACTS FROM THE HAGUE CONVENTIONS OF 1907 

Baron Beyens, in his book " Germany Before the 
War," says: — 

It was not unknown abroad, however, at any rate among 
jurists familiar with the work of the Hague Conferences, 
that there existed in Germany a "Code for war on land" 
(Kriegsgebrauch im Landeshriege) , published in Berlin by the 
General Staff in 1902. The handbook, it was realized, had 
been written in quite a different spirit from that which ani- 
mated the labors of the two conferences. This special war 
code for the use of German officers openly condemned all 
humanitarian ideas, all tender regard for persons or property, 
as incompatible with the nature and object of war; it au- 
thorized every means of attaining that object, and it left the 
choice and practice of those means to the entire discretion of 
the corps commanders. Still, however uneasy the exponents 
of international law may have felt as to the spread of such 
theories in Germany, they were reassured by the Imperial 
Government's solemn acceptance of the 1907 Hague Con- 
ventions and of the moral principles laid down therein as 
follows: — 

Article 2. The inhabitants of a territory which has not 
been occupied, who, on the approach of the enemy, spon- 
taneously take up arms to resist the invading troops without 
having had time to organize themselves in accordance with 
Article 1, shall be regarded as belligerents if they carry arms 
openly and if they respect the laws and customs of war. 

Article 3. The armed forces of the belligerent parties may 
consist of combatants and non-combatants. In the case of 
capture by the enemy, both have a right to be treated as 
prisoners of war. 

Article 6. The State may utilize the labor of prisoners of 

232 



THE HAGUE CONVENTIONS OF 1907 

war, according to their rank and aptitude, officers excepted. 
The tasks shall not be excessive and shall have no connection 
with the operations of the war. 

Article 22. The right of belligerents to adopt means of 
injuring the enemy is not unlimited. 

Article 23. In addition to the prohibitions provided by 
special conventions, it is specially forbidden : — 

(a) To employ poison or poisonous weapons; 

(b) To kill or wound treacherously individuals belonging 
to the hostile nation or army; 

(c) To kill or wound an enemy who, having laid down 
his arms, or having no longer means of defense, has sur- 
rendered at discretion; 

(d) To declare that no quarter will be given; 

(c) To employ arms, projectiles, or material calculated 
to cause unnecessary suffering; 

(/) To make improper use of a flag of truce, of the national 
flag or of the military insignia and uniform of the enemy, as 
well as the distinctive badges of the Geneva Convention; 

(g) To destroy or seize the enemy's property, unless such 
destruction or seizure be imperatively demanded by the 
necessity of war; 

(h) To declare abolished, suspended, or inadmissible in a 
court of law the rights and actions of the nationals of the 
hostile party. 

A belligerent is likewise forbidden to compel the nationals 
of the hostile party to take part in the operations of war 
directed against their own country, even if they were in 
the belligerent's service before the commencement of the 
war. 

Article 27. In sieges and bombardments all necessary 
steps must be taken to spare, as far as possible, buildings 
dedicated to religion, art, science or charitable purposes, 
historic monuments, hospitals, and places where the sick and 
wounded are collected, provided they are not being used at 
the time for military purposes. 

It is the duty of the besieged to indicate the presence of 
such buildings or places by distinctive signs, which shall be 
notified to the enemy beforehand. 

233 



OBSTACLES TO PEACE 

Article 28. The pillage of a town or place, even when 
taken by assault, is prohibited. 

Article 45. It is forbidden to compel the inhabitants of 
occupied territory to swear allegiance to the hostile Power. 

Article 46. Family honor and rights, the lives of persons, 
and private property, as well as religious convictions and 
practice, must be respected. 

Private property cannot be confiscated. 

Article 47. Pillage is formally prohibited. 

Article 49. If, in addition to the taxes mentioned in the 
above article, the occupant levies other money contributions 
in the occupied territory, this shall only be for the needs of 
the army or of the administration of the territory in ques- 
tion. 

Article 50. No general penalty, pecuniary or otherwise, 
shall be inflicted upon the population on account of the acts 
of individuals for which they cannot be regarded as jointly 
and severally responsible. 

Article 52. Requisitions in kind and services shall not be 
demanded from municipalities or inhabitants except for the 
needs of the army of occupation. They shall be in proportion 
to the resources of the country, and of such a nature as not 
to involve the inhabitants in the obligation of taking part in 
military operations against their country. 

Such requisitions and services shall only be demanded on 
the authority of the commander in the locality occupied. 

Contributions in kind shall as far as possible be paid for 
in cash; if not, a receipt shall be given and the payment of 
the amount due shall be made as soon as possible. 

Article 53. An army of occupation can only take posses- 
sion of cash, funds, and realizable securities which are 
strictly the property of the State, depdts of arms, means of 
transport, stores and supplies, and, generally, all movable 
property belonging to the State which may be used for 
military operations. 

All appliances, whether on land, at sea, or in the air, 
adapted for the transmission of news, or for the transport of 
persons or things, exclusive of cases governed by naval law, 
dep6ts of arms and, generally, all kinds of ammunition of 

234 



THE HAGUE CONVENTIONS OF 1907 



war, may be seized, even if they belong to private individ- 
uals, but must be restored and compensation fixed when 
peace is made. 

Article 55. The occupying State shall be regarded only 
as administrator and usufructuary of public buildings, real 
estate, forests, and agricultural estates belonging to the 
hostile State, and situated in the occupied country. It must 
safeguard the capital of these properties, and administer 
them in accordance with the rules of usufruct. 

Article 56. The property of municipalities, that of institu- 
tions dedicated to religion, charity and education, the arts 
and sciences, even when State property, shall be treated as 
private property. 

All seizure of, destruction, or willful damage done to insti- 
tutions of this character, historic monuments, works of art 
and science, is forbidden, and should be made the subject of 
legal proceedings. 

The 1907 Convention was ratified by the following 
signatory powers on the dates indicated: — 

Austria-Hungary November 

Belgium August 

Bolivia November 

Brazil January 

Cuba February 

Denmark November 

France October 

Germany November 

Great Britain November 

Guatemala March 

Haiti February 

Japan December 

Luxemburg September 

Mexico November 

Netherlands November 

Norway September 

Panama September 

Portugal April 

Rumania March 

Russia November 

235 



27 


1909 


8 


1910 


27 


1909 


5 


1914 


22 


1912 


27 


1909 


7 


1910 


27 


1909 


27 


1909 


15 


1911 


2 


1910 


13 


, 1911 


5 


, 1912 


27 


1909 


27 


1909 


19 


, 1910 


11 


1911 


13 


1911 


1 


1912 


27 


, 1909 



OBSTACLES TO PEACE 

Salvador November 27, 1909 

Siam March 12, 1910 

Sweden November 27, 1909 

Switzerland May 12, 1910 

United States November 27, 1909 

Adhesions: — 

Liberia February 4, 1914 

Nicaragua December 16, 1909 

The following powers signed the Convention, but 
have not yet ratified : — 

Argentine Republic Montenegro 

Bulgaria Paraguay 

Chile Persia 

Columbia Peru 

Dominican Republic Servia 

Ecuador Turkey 

Greece Uruguay 

Italy Venezuela 



CHAPTER XIV 

THE NEUTRALITY OF BELGIUM 

I. Early History 

There are three nations in Europe whose neutrality 
is guaranteed by the great powers, Switzerland (1815), 
Belgium (1839), and Luxemburg (1867). 

The effect of the treaty between England, France, 
Germany, Austria, and Russia guaranteeing the neu- 
trality of Belgium was to constitute Belgium a barrier 
or a buffer state. The treaty was of advantage to 
Prussia as affording a barrier state against France. 
It was agreed to by France because she saw no hope 
of being allowed to annex Belgium. 

Von Moltke — the elder — dealing with the basic 
military policy of Prussia in 1858, said : — 

Belgium sees in France the only actual enemy to her inde- 
pendence; she considers England, Prussia, and even Holland, 
as her best allies. ... If we respect Belgium's neutrality we 
will protect thereby the largest part of our western frontier. 

For many years the guaranteed neutrality of Bel- 
gium helped to protect Prussia from France. 

Much later, since the formation of the German 
Empire, Karl Hildebrand writes : — 

But far more prominent and more considerable [than the 
interest of France] is the interest of Germany in the mainte- 
nance of the Belgian state and its neutrality. Belgium takes 
the place to Germany of a whole army and a chain of for- 
tresses. ... It is thanks to this neutrality that the war of 
1870 did not degenerate into a world-wide war, and if — 

237 



OBSTACLES TO PEACE 

which God forbid — such an impious war were to arise 
again, doubtless the same phenomena would be repro- 
duced. 

At the outbreak of the Franco-Prussian War, Bis- 
marck wrote to the Belgian Minister in Berlin on July 
22, 1870: — 

In confirmation of my verbal assurance, I have the honor 
to give in writing a declaration, which, in view of the 
treaties in force, is quite superfluous, that the Confederation 
of the North and its allies [Germany] will respect the neutral- 
ity of Belgium on the understanding of course that it is 
respected by the other belligerent. 

Belgium was a barrier state for England, because 
the guaranteed neutralization of Belgium prevented a 
strong power from getting control of the coast and 
threatening England. Early in 1852 Queen Victoria 
wrote to the King of the Belgians, assuring him against 
the alleged designs of Napoleon III, and stating, "Any 
attempt on Belgium would be casus belli for us." 

Mr. David Jayne Hill, an eminent authority on 
international law, says : — 

While this arrangement prevents making their territories 
the scene of hostilities, it does not deprive these States of the 
right of self-defense. On the contrary, it imposes upon them 
the duty of defending their neutrality to the best of their abil- 
ity ; but, as they enjoy the guaranty of the powers that they 
will aid them in this respect, it is improbable that their neu- 
trality will ever be violated. 

The neutralization of Belgium has a counterpart in 
the Monroe Doctrine of the United States. This doc- 
trine originated in conversations between Ministers 
of the United States at London and members of the 

238 



THE NEUTRALITY OF BELGIUM 

British Government. Its enforcement has not depended 
on a treaty because its principles accord with the inter- 
ests of the United States and England. 

II. The German Case against Belgium 

When Von Bethmann-Hollweg announced the open- 
ing of the war in his speech in the Reichstag, August 
4, 1914, he said in part: — 

Gentlemen, we are now in a state of necessity, and neces- 
sity knows no law. Our troops have occupied Luxemburg, 
and perhaps have already entered Belgian territory. 

Gentlemen, that is a breach of international law. . . . The 
wrong — I speak openly — the wrong we thereby commit 
we will try to make good as soon as our military aims have 
been attained. 

But the violation of Belgium, and the subsequent 
terrorization as set forth by Cardinal Mercier and 
by the proclamation of German generals, as well as 
by other testimony, caused a tremendous hostility 
to Germany. Dr. Bernhard Dernburg came to the 
United States to get a hearing for Germany's side. 
Dr. Dernburg knew America well. He had spent many 
years in financial circles in New York City. In the 
widely circulated weekly, the "Saturday Evening 
Post" (Philadelphia), he took the bull by the horns in 
these words : — 

When the war broke out there was no enforceable treaty 
in existence to which Germany was a party. Originally, in 
1839, a treaty was concluded, providing for such neutrality. 
In 1866 France demanded of Prussia the right to take pos- 
session of Belgium, and the written French offer was made 
known by Bismarck in July, 1870. Then England demanded 
and obtained separate treaties with France, and with the 

239 



OBSTACLES TO PEACE 

North German Federation, to the effect that they should 
respect Belgium's neutrality, and such treaties were signed 
on the 9th and 26th of August, 1870, respectively. Accord- 
ing to them, both countries guaranteed Belgium's neutrality 
for the duration of the war and for one year thereafter. The 
war came to an end with the Frankfort peace in 1871, and 
the treaty between Belgium and the North German Federa- 
tion expired in May, 1872. 

Now, it may be said that if Dr. Dernburg is right, the 
Ministers of the German Government were wrong. 

Baron Beyens, the Belgian Minister to Berlin, in- 
formed his Government under date of May 2, 1913, as 
follows : — 

I have the honor of informing you, according to the semi- 
official " Norddeutsche Allgemeine Zeitung," of the declara- 
tions made in the course of the sitting of the 29th of April 
[1913] of the Budget Committee of the Reichstag by the 
Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs and the Minister of 
War with reference to Belgian neutrality. 

A member of the Social Democratic Party said "In Bel- 
gium the approach of a Franco-German war is viewed with 
apprehension, because it is feared that Germany will not re- 
spect Belgian neutrality." 

Herr von Jagow, Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, 
replied: "The neutrality of Belgium is determined by inter- 
national conventions, and Germany is resolved to respect 
these conventions." 

This declaration did not satisfy another member of the 
Social Democratic Party. Herr von Jagow observed that he 
had nothing to add to the clear statement which he had 
uttered with reference to the relations between Germany 
and Belgium. 

In reply to further interrogations from a member of the 
Social Democratic Party, Herr von Heeringen, Minister of 
War, stated, " Belgium does not play any part in the justi- 
fication of the German scheme of military reorganization; 
the scheme is justified by the position of matters in the East. 

240 



THE NEUTRALITY OF BELGIUM 

Germany will not lose sight of the fact that Belgian neutral- 
ity is guaranteed by international treaties." 

A member of the Progressive Party having again referred 
to Belgium, Herr von Jagow again pointed out that his 
declaration regarding Belgium was sufficiently clear. 

To my mind the Ministers of the German Govern- 
ment were right and Dr. Dernburg was wrong. 

In the Treaty of 1870, Article 3, occurs this pro- 
vision as quoted by Dr. Dernburg : — 

Art. 3. This treaty shall be binding on the High Contract- 
ing Parties during the continuance of the present war be- 
tween the North German Confederation and France, and 
for 12 months after the ratification of any treaty of peace 
concluded between those parties; 

It will be noticed that the quotation ends with a 
semicolon. Dr. Dernburg does not complete the sen- 
tence. Here is the complete article : — 

Art. 3. This treaty shall be binding on the High Con- 
tracting Parties during the continuance of the present war 
between the North German Confederation and France, and 
for 12 months after the ratification of any treaty of peace 
concluded between those parties; and on the expiration of 
that time the independence and neutrality of Belgium will, 
so far as the High Contracting Parties are respectively 
concerned, continue to rest as heretofore on the first arti- 
cle of the Quintuple Treaty of the 19th of April, 1839. 

Now it may be said, without reflecting on the intelli- 
gence of the readers of the "Saturday Evening Post," 
that but very few of them could know of the very im- 
portant partial suppression of a very important treaty, 
but there can be no doubt that the part of the treaty 
suppressed by Dr. Dernburg was known to the German 
Government. 

It has been claimed by German authorities that the 

241 



OBSTACLES TO PEACE 






treaty of Belgian neutrality was not binding on the 
German Empire, because it was made by Prussia. 
Every American will remember, however, that in the 
Frye case the German Government cited a provision 
in a treaty made between Prussia and the United 
States in the eighteenth century. Further, we must 
accuse the Ministers of the German Government of 
hypocrisy if their promises to respect Belgian neu- 
trality were made, because of "international conven- 
tions," knowing that there were no treaty obligations. 

Further, if the Treaty of 1839 had ceased to exist, 
Belgium would have the status of other neutral coun- 
tries like Holland, Denmark, Sweden and Norway, and 
the violation of her neutrality would be equally a 
crime against civilization. 

When the war in 1870 between France and Prussia 
broke out, there was acute anxiety as to Belgium caused 
by the publication of a memorandum in the handwrit- 
ing of Napoleon Ill's envoy to Prussia expressing the 
wish of the French Emperor to annex Belgium. At the 
outbreak of the war the English Government ques- 
tioned the two belligerents as to their intentions toward 
Belgium. Each replied that he would respect the neu- 
trality of Belgium unless the other first violated it. 
Then Great Britain made an identical treaty with the 
French and German Governments. This is a copy of 
the treaty between England and Prussia : — 

Treaty between Great Britain and Prussia, relative to the 
Independence and Neutrality of Belgium 

Signed at London, 9th August, 1870 
Reference to Treaties of 19th April, 1839 

Her Majesty the Queen of the United Kingdom of Great 
Britain and Ireland, and His Majesty the King of Prussia, 

242 



THE NEUTRALITY OF BELGIUM 

being desirous at the present time of recording in a solemn 
Act their fixed determination to maintain the Independence 
and Neutrality of Belgium, as provided in Article VII of 
the Treaty signed at London on the 19th April, 1839, be- 
tween Belgium and the Netherlands, which Article was de- 
clared by the Quintuple Treaty of 1839 to be considered as 
having the same force and value as if textually inserted in 
the said Quintuple Treaty, their said Majesties have deter- 
mined to conclude between themselves a separate Treaty, 
which, without impairing or invalidating the conditions of 
the said Quintuple Treaty, shall be subsidiary and accessory 
to it; and they have accordingly named as their Plenipoten- 
tiaries for that purpose, that is to say : — 



Cooperation of Great Britain with Prussia in case of violation of 
Neutrality of Belgium by France 

Article I. His Majesty the King of Prussia having de- 
clared that notwithstanding the Hostilities in which the 
North German Confederation is engaged with France, it is 
his fixed determination to respect the Neutrality of Belgium, 
so long as the same shall be respected by France, Her 
Majesty the Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain 
and Ireland on her part declares that, if during the said 
Hostilities the Armies of France should violate that Neutral- 
ity, she will be prepared to cooperate with His Prussian 
Majesty for the defence of the same in such manner as may 
be mutually agreed upon, employing for that purpose her 
Naval and Military Forces to insure its observance, and to 
maintain, in conjunction with His Prussian Majesty, then 
and thereafter the Independence and Neutrality of Belgium. 



Great Britain not engaged to take part in war behoeen North German 
Confederation and France, except as regards violation of Belgian 
Neutrality 

It is clearly understood that Her Majesty the Queen of 
the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland does not 

243 



OBSTACLES TO PEACE 

engage herself by this Treaty to take part in any of the gen- 
eral operations of the War now carried on between the North 
German Confederation and France, beyond the Limits of 
Belgium, as defined in the Treaty between Belgium and the 
Netherlands of 19th April, 1839. 

Cooperation of Prussia with Great Britain in case of Violation of 
Neutrality of Belgium by France 

Article II. His Majesty the King of Prussia agrees on his 
part, in the event provided for in the foregoing Article, to 
cooperate with Her Majesty the Queen of the United King- 
dom of Great Britain and Ireland, employing his Naval and 
Military Forces for the purpose aforesaid; and, the case 
arising, to concert with Her Majesty the measures which 
shall be taken, separately or in common, to secure the 
Neutrality and Independence of Belgium. 

Treaty to be binding until conclusion of a Treaty of Peace between 

France and Prussia 

Article III. This Treaty shall be binding on the High 
Contracting Parties during the continuance of the present 
War between the North German Confederation and France, 
and for 12 months after the Ratification of any Treaty of 
Peace concluded between those Parties; and on the expira- 
tion of that time the Independence and Neutrality of Bel- 
gium will, so far as the High Contracting Parties are respec- 
tively concerned, continue to rest as heretofore on Article I 
of the Quintuple Treaty of the 19th April, 1839. 

At the same time England made a similar treaty 
with France. In connection with the discussion in 
Parliament as to this treaty, Mr. Gladstone made this 
speech, which is so often quoted: — 

There is, I admit, the obligation of the Treaty [of 1839]. 
It is not necessary, nor would time permit me, to enter into 
the complicated question of the nature of the obligations of 
that Treaty ; but I am not able to subscribe to the doctrine of 

244 



THE NEUTRALITY OF BELGIUM 

those who have held in this House what plainly amounts to 
an assertion that the simple fact of the existence of a guar- 
antee is binding on every party to it irrespectively altogether 
of the particular position in which it may find itself at the 
time when the occasion for acting on the guarantee arises. 
The great authorities upon foreign policy to whom I have 
been accustomed to listen — such as Lord Aberdeen and Lord 
Palmerston — never, to my knowledge, took that rigid, and 
if I may venture to say so, that impracticable view of a 
guarantee. The circumstance that there is already an exist- 
ing guarantee in force is of necessity an important fact, and 
a weighty element in the case, to which we are bound to give 
full and ample consideration. There is also this further con- 
sideration, the force of which we must all feel most deeply, 
and that is the common interest against the unmeasured 
aggrandizement of any power whatever. 

But there is one other motive, which I shall place at the 
head of all, that attaches peculiarly to the preservation of 
the independence of Belgium. What is that country? It is 
a country containing 4,000,000 or 5,000,000 of people, with 
much of an historic past, and imbued with a sentiment of 
nationality and a spirit of independence as warm and as 
genuine as that which beats in the hearts of the proudest 
and most powerful nations. By the regulation of its internal 
concerns, amid the shocks of revolution, Belgium, through 
all the crises of the age, has set to Europe an example of a 
good and stable government gracefully associated with the 
widest possible extension of the liberty of the people. Look- 
ing at a country such as this, is there any man who hears 
me who does not feel that if, in order to satisfy a greedy 
appetite for aggrandizement, coming whence it may, Bel- 
gium were absorbed, the day that witnessed that absorption 
would hear the knell of public right and public law in Europe? 

But we have an interest in the independence of Belgium 
which is wider than that — which is wider than that which 
we may have in the literal operation of the guarantee. It is 
found in the answer to the question whether, under the cir- 
cumstances of the case, this country, endowed as it is with 
influence and power, would quietly stand by and witness the 

245 



OBSTACLES TO PEACE 

perpetration of the direst crime that ever stained the pages 
of history, and thus become participators in the sin? . . . 

But in what, then, lies the difference between the two 
Treaties? It is in this — that, in accordance with our obliga- 
tions, we should have had to act under the Treaty of 1839 
without stipulated assurance of being supported from any 
quarter whatever against any combination, however formid- 
able; whereas by the Treaty now formally before Parliament, 
under the conditions laid down in it, we secure powerful 
support in the event of our having to act. . . . 

It is perfectly true that this is a cumulative Treaty, added 
to the Treaty of 1839, as the right honorable gentleman op- 
posite [Mr. Disraeli], with perfect precision, described it. . . . 

The Treaty of 1839 loses nothing of its force even during 
the existence of this present Treaty. There is no derogation 
from it whatever. The Treaty of 1839 includes terms which 
are expressly included in the present instrument, lest by any 
chance it should be said that in consequence of the existence 
of this instrument, the Treaty of 1839 had been injured or 
impaired. 

The first part of Gladstone's speech has been used to 
support the contention that a nation may under cer- 
tain conditions fail to fulfill its treaty obligations. On 
this point I quote Professor E. C. Stowell, of Colum- 
bia University : — 

What Gladstone undoubtedly meant by this was that the 
English statesmen perceived that the whole brunt of main- 
taining the Belgian neutrality rested upon their shoulders, 
and that though they intended to take every means to make 
good the engagement into which they had entered, they did 
not feel that England was in honor bound, where the odds 
were too great against her, to stake her national existence in 
the defense of Belgian neutrality. 

Gladstone has been criticized for this frank expression, 
and in truth his speech seems to present a confusion of ideas 
which lays him open to criticism. In reality, however, his 
stand was perfectly justified, for otherwise, in agreeing to 

246 



THE NEUTRALITY OF BELGIUM 

the neutrality of Belgium, England would have been digging 
a pit into which she herself might later have fallen. Glad- 
stone could not have meant that England would ever shirk 
her obligation to participate in any reasonable measures to 
make good the guaranty. England's vital interests would 
surely recommend such a course; but it would have been an 
impracticable view of the obligation which would have sent 
England to her doom in the face of a great Continental com- 
bination intent upon violating the obligation imposed by 
the Treaty of 1839. 

If, for example, Russia, Germany, France and 
Austria had combined to destroy the neutrality of 
Belgium, English intervention would have been use- 
less. To violate the treaty, however, is different from 
fighting to maintain it under any circumstances. 

The other portions of Mr. Gladstone's speech pre- 
sent the British Monroe Doctrine as to Belgium. 
There can be no doubt that Queen Victoria's words in 
her letter to the King of the Belgians in 1852 were true 
for England for all time. 

The universal conviction in Germany is that Bel- 
gium was one of the enemy nations that had conspired 
to attack Germany. I will now consider the principal 
basis of this belief — the documents found by the 
German military forces in the archives of the Belgian 
Government in Brussels. 

The first document is a letter by General Ducarne, 
Chief of the Belgian General Staff, to the Belgian 
Minister of War, dated Brussels, April 10, 1906. It 
details the second conversation with Lieutenant- 
Colonel Barnardiston, the British Military Attache. 
These conversations dealt with the technical questions 
involved in the cooperation of British troops with the 

Belgian forces. 

247 



OBSTACLES TO PEACE 

The conditions under which those military opera- 
tions would take place are set forth in the following 
paragraph of the document : — 

He [Colonel Barnardiston] proceeded in the following 
sense: The landing of the English troops would take place at 
the French coast in the vicinity of Dunkirk and Calais, so 
as to hasten their movements as much as possible. The entry 
of the English into Belgium would take place only after the 
violation of our neutrality by Germany. A landing in Ant- 
werp would take much more time, because larger transports 
would be needed, and because, on the other hand, the safety 
would be less complete. 

Farther on in the margin is a note by the Belgian 
general as follows : — 

The entry of the English into Belgium would only take 
place after the violation of our neutrality by Germany. 

The question arises, Did these negotiations bind 
the respective Governments? The document contains 
the following paragraph : — 

After having expressed his full satisfaction with my expla- 
nations, my visitor laid emphasis on the following facts: 
(1) that our conversation was entirely confidential; (2) that 
it was not binding on his Government; (3) that his Minister, 
the English General Staff, he and I were, up to the present, 
the only ones informed about the matter; (4) that he did not 
know whether the opinion of his Sovereign had been con- 
sulted. 

The second document bears the date of April 23, 
and it is believed that the year was 1912. I print the 
document in full: — 

The British Military Attache asked to see General Jung- 
bluth. The two gentlemen met on April 23. 
Lieutenant-Colonel Bridges told the General that England 

248 



THE NEUTRALITY OF BELGIUM 

had at her disposal an army which could be sent to the 
Continent composed of six divisions of infantry and eight 
brigades of cavalry — together 160,000 troops. She has also 
everything which is necessary for her to defend her insular 
territory. Everything is ready. 

At the time of the recent events, the British Government 
would have immediately effected a disembarkment in Bel- 
gium, even if we had not asked for assistance. 

The General objected that for that our consent was neces- 
sary. 

The Military Attache answered that he knew this, but 
that — since we were not able to prevent the Germans from 
passing through our country — England would have landed 
her troops in Belgium under all circumstances. 

As for the place of landing, the Military Attache did not 
make a precise statement: he said that the coast was rather 
long, but the General knows that Mr. Bridges, during Easter 
has paid daily visits to Zeebrugge from Ostende. 

The General added that we were, besides, perfectly able to 
prevent the Germans from passing through. 

It is believed in Germany that this document proves 
that England proposed to invade Belgium as soon as 
a Franco-German war broke out. And this document 
constitutes to the German people the absolute justi- 
fication of the German invasion of Belgium. 

If the Governments of Belgium and England had 
agreed to invade Germany with their combined forces 
in case of a Franco-German war, irrespective of a prior 
entry by Germany, Belgium would have forfeited any 
protection she might claim from the Treaty of 1839. 
But even so, until Belgium had declared war, or en- 
gaged in hostilities, she was not, according to the law 
of nations, subject to attack. France was closely allied 
with Russia, but if France had decided to remain out of 
the war, Germany could not rightfully have attacked 

249 



OBSTACLES TO PEACE 

her. Italy was allied to Germany and Austria, but she 
was not subject to attack by the forces of England and 
France. 

Let us place the most extreme construction on the 
words of the Military Attache of Great Britain, and 
let us assume that he spoke with the full authority 
of his Government, and let us further assume that 
Great Britain meant to invade Germany through 
Belgium, not waiting until Belgium's neutrality was 
violated. Even so Belgium's record is clear. The 
Belgian General "objected that for that our consent 
was necessary." The Belgian General further said 
"we were, besides, perfectly able to prevent the Ger- 
mans from passing through." 

From these statements it would seem that the Bel- 
gian Government contemplated a situation in which 
military action on the part of England and Belgium 
would only follow the invasion of Belgium by Ger- 
many. 

There was undoubtedly a great deal of anxiety in 
Belgium as to her fate if a war broke out between Ger- 
many and France. It will be noticed that when Von 
Jagow, the German Secretary of State, and Von Heer- 
ingen, the German Minister of War, made their state- 
ments in the Reichstag, as to the German attitude 
toward the neutrality of Belgium, the Belgian Min- 
ister at Berlin at once communicated the reassuring 
statements to his Government. 

Also the Belgian Government must have asked the 
intentions of the English Government, for we have 
this letter from the British Foreign Office: — 



250 



THE NEUTRALITY OF BELGIUM 

Foreign Office, April 7, 1913. 

Sir: — 

In speaking to the Belgian Minister to-day I said, speak- 
ing unofficially, that it had been brought to my knowledge 
that there was apprehension in Belgium lest we should 
be the first to violate Belgian neutrality. I did not think 
that this apprehension could have come from a British 
source. 

The Belgian Minister informed me that there had been 
talk, in a British source which he could not name, of the 
landing of troops in Belgium by Great Britain, in order to 
anticipate a possible dispatch of German troops through 
Belgium to France. 

I said I was sure that this Government would not be the 
first to violate the neutrality of Belgium, and I did not 
believe that any British Government would be the first to 
do so, nor would public opinion here ever approve of it. 
What we had to consider, and it was a somewhat embar- 
rassing question, was what it would be desirable and neces- 
sary for us, as one of the guarantors of Belgian neutrality, 
to do if Belgian neutrality was violated by any power. For 
us to be the first to violate it and to send troops into Belgium 
would be to give Germany, for instance, justification for 
sending troops into Belgium also. What we desired in the 
case of Belgium, as in that of other neutral countries, was 
that their neutrality should be respected, and as long as it 
was not violated by any other power we should certainly not 
send troops ourselves into their territory. 

I am, etc., 

E. Grey. 

We have conclusive proof of the correct action of the 
Belgian Government in the statement King Albert 
made in the "New York World," March 22, 1915: — 

No honest man could have acted otherwise than I did. 
Belgium never departed for an instant nor in the slightest 
degree from the strictest neutrality, and Belgium was always 
the loyal friend of each and every one of the powers that 

251 



OBSTACLES TO PEACE 

guaranteed her neutrality. At first, Germany openly ad- 
mitted that in violating the neutrality of Belgium she was 
doing a wrong, but now, for the purposes of a campaign of 
propaganda in neutral countries, an attempt is being made 
to cast a slur upon Belgium and hold her up to scorn as 
having perfidiously departed from her neutrality in connec- 
tion with the so-called "Anglo-Belgian Convention" of 
which so much is being made. 

I can say this: No one in Belgium ever gave the name of 
"Anglo-Belgian Conventions" to the letter of General 
Ducarne to the Minister of War, detailing the entirely in- 
formal conversations with the British Military Attache, but 
I was so desirous of avoiding even the semblance of any- 
thing that might be construed as un-neutral that I had the 
matters, of which it is now sought to make so much, com- 
municated to the German Military Attache in Brussels. 
When the Germans went through our archives, they knew 
exactly what they would find, and all their present surprise 
and indignation is assumed. 

It is difficult to see how any one can find from these 
documents any guilt attaching to Belgium. As to Eng- 
land, we not only have the letter of Sir Edward Grey, 
but the fact that for England to destroy the guaran- 
teed neutrality of Belgium would be very seriously to 
injure her own interests. 

III. Side-Lights on Belgian Diplomacy, 1905 to 1914 

At no time in the history of the United States has 
the Monroe Doctrine been more important to her in- 
terests than were the neutrality and independence of 
Belgium to the interests of England before the out- 
break of the present war. 

In a semi-official dispatch from Berlin, January 16, 
1917, Germany answers England by a series of ques- 
tions. The last question is as follows : — 

252 



THE NEUTRALITY OF BELGIUM 

Why did the British Government prohibit the publication 
of reports of Belgian Ministers about the encircling policy 
of England? Is it ashamed of its own actions? 

This question refers to a publication by the German 
Government of the diplomatic dispatches from the 
Belgian Ministers at London, Paris, and Berlin for the 
ten years 1905 to 1914. I examined this book in 
Germany, and I have a copy of it from which I make 
some extracts from the introduction. I also quote 
several of these dispatches. 

Statement by the German Foreign Office 

Among the sources to which the historian will resort, the 
documents which are herewith presented to the world will 
rank high. They consist of reports made to the Belgian 
Ministers of Foreign Affairs, Baron de Favereau and M. 
Davignon, by the Belgian Ministers at the chief European 
capitals — Count de Lalaing at London; M. A. Leghait and 
later Baron Guillaume at Paris; Baron Greindl and then 
Baron Bey ens at Berlin — from the year 1905 to 1914. 

The correspondence was found in the archives of the 
Belgian Ministry of Foreign Affairs on the occupation of 
Brussels by German forces. 

The picture which these Ministers unite in drawing is 
that of the sinister figure of England moving with ever 
malevolent purpose among the courts and chancelleries of 
Europe, everywhere fomenting suspicions and inspiring 
hatred of the Power which it has set its mind to destroy. In 
the pursuit of this purpose we see King Edward in the clos- 
ing days of his reign devoting himself to the dissipation of 
the longstanding Anglo-French antipathy and the creation 
of the rapprochement which Lord Lansdowne and Sir Edward 
Grey strengthened into an alliance. . . . The calendar of the 
years 1905-1914 is unrolled by these diplomatic diarists, and 
the story of the British influence on French internal affairs 
during the decade, of British influence on French foreign 

253 



OBSTACLES TO PEACE 

policy at the Algeciras Conference and in Morocco, and in 
the successive Balkan crises, is recounted. 

That British foreign policy during the last ten years has 
had as its central motive the isolation of Germany is of 
course no secret either to diplomatists or to laymen; but the 
extreme degree to which this motive ruled, the never-sleeping 
assiduity with which it was pursued, the Machiavellian in- 
genuity with which every occasion to forward it was taken 
advantage of, will hardly have been recognized by any who 
have not perused the documents in which these detached 
and disinterested spectators of the game recorded it as it 
went forward. 

Every report, every paragraph of every report, reveals 
the fact that the neutral diplomatists recognize that it was 
the never-forgotten aim of Great Britain to raise up enemies 
to Germany on every hand, to frustrate her every endeavor, 
no matter how innocent of harm to others; and that in pur- 
suance of this aim England never hesitated to jeopardize the 
peace of Europe. 

Such is the story which these pages spread before us. 

It is away back in 1905 (September 23) that we find the 
Belgian Minister at Berlin, Baron Greindl, writing in this 
wise: — 

The unheard-of efforts made by the English press to 
prevent a peaceful settlement of the Moroccan affair 
and the probably insincere credulity with which it 
receives all calumnies aimed at the German policy show 
how ready public opinion in Great Britain is to acclaim 
any combination hostile to Germany. 

As to the attitude of Germany, writing on the last day of 
the year 1905, the Belgian Minister at Berlin tells his home 
office that it has been " the highest ambition of His Majesty 
(the German Emperor) to preserve peace during his entire 
reign.' ' 

The peculiar tactics historically characteristic of English 
foreign policy are recognized in the memorandum of 
October 27, 1905, by the Belgian Minister in Berlin in these 
words: — ♦ 

254 



THE NEUTRALITY OF BELGIUM 

An insurmountable mistrust of England is prevalent 
here. A great number of Germans are convinced that 
England is either seeking allies for an attack against 
Germany, or, which would be more in conformity with 
the British traditions, is endeavoring to stir up a war 
on the Continent in which she would not take part and 
of which she would reap the benefit. 

In the same memorandum the Minister goes on: — 

While England is safe from attacks, Germany, on the 
contrary, is very vulnerable. In attacking Germany 
simply to annihilate a rival, England would only follow 
her old tracks. She destroyed successfully the Dutch 
fleet in accord with Louis XIV, subsequently the 
French fleet, and, finally, even the Danish fleet, in the 
midst of peace and without any provocation, simply 
because it represented a respectable naval force. 

The Belgian Minister at Berlin, expressing his skepticism 
regarding the effect of the approaching visit of the Lord 
Mayor of London to Berlin, writes (June 8, 1907) : — 

As Count de Lalaing rightly says, the King of Eng- 
land is personally directing a policy the ultimate aim of 
which is the isolation of Germany. His action corre- 
sponds with the sentiments of the nation, misled by an 
unscrupulous press, the sole interest of which consists 
in a large circulation, and which is therefore only anx- 
ious to flatter the passions of the populace. 

Baron Greindl's report to his Government repeatedly 
referred to the Barnardiston-Ducarne episode; for instance, 
writing April 18, 1907, he says: — 

This zeal in uniting Powers whom no one is menacing 
for alleged purposes of defense, can with good reason 
seem suspicious. The offer of 100,000 men made by the 
King of England to M. Delcasse cannot be forgotten 
in Berlin. We ourselves have to record the singular 
overtures made by Colonel Barnardiston to General 
Ducarne, and who knows if there have not been other 

255 



OBSTACLES TO PEACE 






similar intrigues which have not come to our know- 
ledge? 

Reporting to his Government February 10, 1907, M. 
Leghait, Belgian Minister at Paris, writes : — 

France, who sincerely desires to maintain peace and 
to improve her relations with Germany, will have to 
make great efforts of diplomacy if she wishes to demon- 
strate at Berlin that the Entente Cordiale need not be 
obnoxious to Germany and that it was not concluded 
to put obstacles in the way of her expansion. 

It is realized here so well that France is in a delicate 
situation and has been dragged into a dangerous game, 
that all the semi-official organs and other serious papers 
are keeping silent on this occasion and that none of 
them dares to show pleasure in this new demonstration 
of English friendship. 

In view of the unspeakable calamities which have fallen 
upon the French Republic and the Kingdom of Belgium in 
consequence of her implication in the British plot against 
Germany, it is sadly interesting to note that as early as 
June 17, 1907, the Belgian Minister to France, M. Leghait, 
was writing solemn warnings to his Government in this 
fashion: — 

England is preparing her ground admirably, but has 
France, who is joining her in her policy, all the neces- 
sary guarantees that she will not be the victim of this 
policy one day? The uncertainty which prevails in 
regard to this subject justifies the supposition that 
there exists between her and the British Government a more 
complete agreement than that of the Entente Cordiale, but 
which will remain latent until that day when events will 
demand that its stipulations be made public. 

In order to arm herself for the moment against perils 
which are perhaps illusory, or in order to strengthen 
the position of the directors of her internal policy, 
France is contracting a debt of gratitude which will seem 
heavy to her on the day when England will reveal the pur- 

256 



THE NEUTRALITY OF BELGIUM 

pose for which she wants to use the influences which she 
had grouped around herself. 

These words were written seven years before the day 
which they prophesied broke in sorrow over France. 

Great Britain's rapprochement with Russia was becoming 
a possibility in 1905. As early as October 14 of that year 
Baron Greindl, the Belgian Minister at Berlin, writes to his 
Minister of Foreign Affairs : — 

England at the present time shows no interest what- 
soever in the fate of Turkey, whose preservation has 
for such a long time been the leading principle of her 
policy. She may leave Russia a free hand in Asia Minor. 
Such a combination would, moreover, have the advan- 
tage of embroiling Russia with Germany, whose isolation 
is at present the principal aim of the English policy. 

On January 25, 1908, we see Baron Greindl writing: — 

The policy directed by King Edward VII, under the 
pretext of guarding Europe from the imaginary German 
peril, has created a French danger which is only too 
real, and which is a menace above all to us [to Belgium]. 

The Belgian Minister in Berlin, reporting home (Decem- 
ber 6, 1911), sees matters precisely as does his colleague in 
London : — 

Everybody in England and France considers the 
Entente Cordiale as a defensive and offensive alliance 
against Germany. That is the character which the late 
King of England wanted to impart to it. The Entente 
Cordiale was founded not on the positive basis of de- 
fense of common interests, but on the negative basis 
of hatred against the German Empire. ... It is the 
Entente Cordiale that revived in France the idea of re- 
venge, which had already abated considerably. It is 
the Entente Cordiale that causes the state of unrest and 
uneasiness in which Europe has been writhing for seven 
years. 

257 



OBSTACLES TO PEACE 

Baron Greindl takes up particularly the suspicion that 
England had had in preparation a military expedition on the 
Continent. He refers to the fact that Sir Edward Grey 
refrained from denying the truth of the charges to this effect, 

and he says: — ■ 

In default of other information it must be considered 
as an established fact that the plan had been discussed 
in London of aiding France in a war with Germany by 
landing an English corps of 150,000 men. There is 
nothing in this which ought to surprise us. It is the con- 
tinuation of the singular proposals which were made a 
few years ago to General Ducarne by Colonel Barnard- 
iston, as well as of the Flushing intrigue. 

Baron Greindl comments sarcastically on the fact that: — 

A hue and cry was raised because a German cruiser 
had cast anchor in the roadstead of Agadir, whereas 
England had not moved a muscle when watching the 
progressing conquest of Moroccan territory by France 
and Spain and the overthrow of the Sultan's independ- 
ence. 

England could not do otherwise. She was bound by 
her secret treaty with France. 

So late as May 8, 1914, Baron Guillaume, Belgian Min- 
ister at Paris, reports that the three years' military service 
law, imposed upon the country by the military party, " will 
have to be given up, or war will have to be waged before two 
years from to-day have elapsed." It was less than two years, 
it was less than three months, before Baron Guillaume's 
apprehensions were realized. 

It can surely not be necessary to dilate upon the meaning 
of the narrative set forth in these luminous, but dishearten- 
ing, pages. These are not the words of German apologists. 
They are the words of disinterested expert observers — the 
considered words, though set down in the very midst of 
events as they pass. They register the convictions of five 
professional students of contemporary international history, 

258 



THE NEUTRALITY OF BELGIUM 

living in the three chief capitals of Europe, and possessing 
unparalleled access to the facts, with the advantage of being 
detached and unprejudiced with regard to them. And their 
convictions are identical. A more complete indictment of 
English statesmanship as the enemy of the peace of the 
world, a deliberate and persistent conspirator against an 
unoffending neighbor, could not possibly be framed. The 
indictment stretches throughout the nine years. There are 
no palliations, no extenuations. It is a record of a monstrous 
crime. 

These quotations are made from the article written 
by the officials of the German Foreign Office, introduc- 
tory to the dispatches sent by the Belgian Ministers to 
England, France, and Germany, the only three coun- 
tries whose relations concerned Belgium deeply. No 
German publicist — Rohrbach, Schiemann, Revent- 
low — could have written anything more bitterly 
hostile to England than these dispatches, or more 
friendly to Germany. Is it not a fair assumption that 
if the Belgian Ministers from 1905 to 1914 possessed 
such sentiments, the Belgian Government could not 
have been hostile to these sentiments and have re- 
tained these Ministers? One may fairly assume that 
the Belgian Government had not been unfriendly to 
Germany, nor unduly friendly to England. 

It is also interesting in this connection that the Bel- 
gian King had visited Vienna and Berlin, and had not 
yet visited London. Further, it was noticed at the 
Hague Conferences that Belgium was on the side of 
Germany, in opposition to most of the Powers, in 
regard to the question of treaties of arbitration. 

The feeling of Belgium in regard to the military con- 
versations is expressed by Baron Beyens, Belgian 
Minister at Berlin, on April 24, 1914: — 

259 



OBSTACLES TO PEACE 

For us, the most interesting point in connection with the 
visit of the Sovereigns of Great Britain is to know whether 
the British Government would be as inclined to-day, as three 
years ago, to range itself by the side of France in the case of a 
conflict of the latter with Germany; we have had the proof 
that a cooperation of the British army and the dispatching 
of an expeditionary corps to the Continent have been con- 
sidered by the military authorities of the two Governments 
[England and France]. 

Would it be the same to-day, and should we still have to 
fear the entry of British soldiers into Belgium in order to 
help us defend our neutrality by first compromising it? 

We have, however, the most convincing proof of 
the correctness of Belgium's attitude in a dispatch 
from Baron Greindl, the Belgian Minister at Berlin 
(who preceded Baron Beyens), dated Berlin, Decem- 
ber 23, 1911 : — 

Evidently the project of an outflanking movement from 
the north forms part of the scheme of the Entente Cordiale. 
If that were not the case, then the plan of fortifying Flushing 
would not have called forth such an outburst in Paris and 
London. The reason why they wished that the Scheldt 
should remain unfortified was hardly concealed by them. 
Their aim was to be able to transport an English garrison, 
unhindered, to Antwerp, which means to establish in our 
country a basis of operation [sic] for an offensive in the direc- 
tion of the Lower Rhine and Westphalia, and then to make 
us throw our lot in with them, which would not be difficult, 
for, after the surrender of our national center of refuge, we 
would, through our own fault, have renounced every possi- 
bility of opposing the demands of our doubtful protectors, 
after having been so unwise as to permit their entrance into 
our country. Colonel Barnardiston's announcements at the 
time of the conclusion of the Entente Cordiale, which were 
just as perfidious as they were naive, have shown us plainly 
the true meaning of things. When it became evident that 
we would not allow ourselves to be frightened by thepre- 

260 



THE NEUTRALITY OF BELGIUM 

tended danger of the closing of the Scheldt, the plan was not 
entirely abandoned, but modified in so far as the British 
army was not to land on the Belgian coast, but at the nearest 
French harbors. 

The revelations of Captain Faber, which were denied as 
little as the newspaper reports by which they were con- 
firmed or completed in several respects, also testify to this. 
This British army, at Calais and Dunkirk, would by no 
means march along our frontier to Longwy in order to reach 
Germany. It would directly invade Belgium from the north- 
west. That would give it the advantage of being able to 
begin operations immediately, to encounter the Belgian 
army in a region where we could not depend on any fortress, 
in case we wanted to risk a battle. Moreover, that would 
make it possible for it to occupy provinces rich in all kinds 
of resources, and, at any rate, to prevent our mobilization or 
only to permit it after we had formally pledged ourselves to 
carry on our mobilization to the exclusive advantage of 
England and her allies. 

It is therefore of necessity to prepare a plan of battle for 
the Belgian army, also, for that possibility. This is necessary 
in the interest of our military defense, as well as for the sake 
of the direction of our foreign policy, in case of war between 
Germany and France. 

If there had been an agreement between Belgium 
and the Entente Powers, would this extremely able 
minister have been ignorant of it? 

While these dispatches, covering the period from the 
Moroccan crisis of 1905 through the Bosnian crisis and 
the other international troubles of Europe up to 1914, 
evince a great friendliness to Germany and a great 
hostility to England and France, there is nothing to in- 
dicate that Belgium overstepped the strictest bounds 
of absolute neutrality in favor of Germany as against 
England and France. 

In fact, Baron Beyens, referring to the period just 

261 



OBSTACLES TO PEACE 

before the war (in "Germany Before The War")» 
writes : — 

In the spring of 1914, Germany and Austria-Hungary, 
who both had old scores to pay off in connection with 
Morocco and the Balkans respectively, reached the zenith of 
their military preparations. The German army was ready at 
all points, and the Austro-Hungarian army was as ready as 
it can ever be. The airships and aeroplanes were only wait- 
ing for the signal to leave their sheds; the heavy guns, an 
array of monsters, were already marshaled in the artillery 
parks. All that was wanted was a pretext. As Dr. Schiemann 
had pointed out in the " Kreuz Zeitung," however, Germany 
could have a war with France merely by letting Austria fly 
at Servia's throat. Prophetic words, which a political crime 
was to bear out, while at the same time it was to give Wil- 
liam II the pretext he required for appearing before Europe 
as an instrument of justice and vengeance! 

And again, Baron Beyens writes : — 

At a meeting held in Cardiff on the 2d of October, 1914, 
the Prime Minister made a most interesting disclosure re- 
garding the 1912 attempt to arrive at an understanding, 
" We said, and we communicated this to the Berlin Govern- 
ment: 'Britain declares that she will neither make nor join 
in any unprovoked attack upon Germany. Aggression upon 
Germany is not the subject and forms no part of any treaty, 
understanding, or combination to which Britain is now a 
party, nor will she become a party to anything that has such 
an object.'" But that, Mr. Asquith went on to say, was 
not enough for German statesmanship. " They wanted us to 
go further. They asked us to pledge ourselves absolutely to 
neutrality in the event of Germany's being engaged in war,' 
and this, mind you, at a time when Germany was enor- 
mously increasing both her aggressive and defensive re- 
sources, and especially upon the sea. They asked us, to put 
it quite plainly, for a free hand, so far as we were concerned, 
when they selected the opportunity to overbear and domi- 

262 



THE NEUTRALITY OF BELGIUM 

nate the European world. To such a demand but one answer 
was possible, and we gave that answer." 

From May, 1907, onward the Foreign Minister of 
Belgium was and is to-day M. Davignon. He was the 
Belgian Minister of Foreign Affairs during the seven 
years 1907 to 1914, when the Belgian Ministers at 
Paris, London, and Berlin were writing the dispatches 
found by the German authorities in the archives of the 
Belgian Government at Brussels and which were pub- 
lished by the Imperial German Foreign Office, with the 
introduction from which I have drawn so copiously. 

It is not likely that M. Davignon would have retained 
these intensely pro-German Ministers if he had been 
pro-English in his sympathies. We will now consider 
his dispatches during the critical week before Belgium 
was invaded. In accordance with my policy in com- 
piling this book, I prefer to quote documents fully, 
rather than to summarize them in my own words. The 
reader is entitled to solid ground in studying the ques- 
tion of Belgium's neutrality, which is so basic in appor- 
tioning the responsibility for the tragedy of Belgium. 

On July 31, M. Davignon said: — 

We have also every reason to believe that the attitude of the 
German Government will be the same as that of the Government 
of the French Republic. 

I quote his dispatch in full : — 

M. Davignon, Belgian Minister for Foreign Affairs, to the 
Belgian Ministers at Berlin, Paris, and London 

Brussels, July 31, 191b. 
Sir, — 

The French Minister came to show me a telegram from the 
Agence Havas reporting a state of war in Germany, and said: 

263 



OBSTACLES TO PEACE 

I seize this opportunity to declare that no incursion 
of French troops into Belgium will take place, even if 
considerable forces are massed upon the frontiers of 
your country. France does not wish to incur the respon- 
sibility, so far as Belgium is concerned, of taking the 
first hostile act. Instructions in this sense will be given 
to the French authorities. 

I thanked M. Klobukowski for his communication, and 
I felt bound to observe that we had always had the greatest 
confidence in the loyal observance by both our neighboring 
States of their engagements towards us. We have also every 
reason to believe that the attitude of the German Govern- 
ment will be the same as that of the Government of the 
French Republic. 

From M. Davignon's dispatch of July 31, reporting 
a conversation with^the German Minister at Brussels, 
it will be seen that he had received no hint of any 
change in Germany's intentions: — 

M. Davignon, Belgian Minister for Foreign Affairs, to the 
Belgian Ministers at Berlin, London, and Paris 

Brussels, July 31 t 1914. 
Sir, — 

In the course of the conversation which the Secretary- 
General of my Department had with Herr von Below this 
morning, he explained to the German Minister the scope of 
the military measures which we had taken, and said to him 
that they were a consequence of our desire to fulfill our inter- 
national obligations, and that they in no wise implied an 
attitude of distrust towards our neighbors. 

The Secretary-General then asked the German Minister 
if he knew of the conversation which he had had with his 
predecessor, Herr von Flotow, and of the reply which the 
Imperial Chancellor had instructed the latter to give. 

The Department of Foreign Affairs had suggested that a 
declaration in the German Parliament during a debate on 

264 



THE NEUTRALITY OF BELGIUM 

foreign affairs would serve to calm public opinion, and to 
dispel the mistrust which was so regrettable from the point 
of view of the relations between the two countries. 

Herr von Bethmann-Hollweg replied that he had fully 
appreciated the feelings which had inspired our representa- 
tions. He declared that Germany had no intention of violat- 
ing Belgian neutrality, but he considered that in making 
a public declaration Germany would weaken her military 
position in regard to France, who, secured on the northern 
side, would concentrate all her energies on the east. 

Baron von der Elst, continuing, said that he perfectly 
understood the objections raised by Herr von Bethmann- 
Hollweg to the proposed public declaration, and he recalled 
the fact that since then, in 1913, Herr von Jagow had made 
reassuring declarations to the Budget Commission of the 
Reichstag respecting the maintenance of Belgian neutrality. 

Herr von Below replied that he knew of the conversation 
with Herr von Flotow, and that he was certain that the sen- 
timents expressed at that time had not changed. j 

After England had sent an identical note to the 
Governments of France and Germany as to their policy 
in regard to Belgian neutrality, M. Davignon sent the 
following dispatch to the Belgian Ministers : — 

M . Davignon, Belgian Minister for Foreign Affairs, to the 
Belgian Ministers at Berlin, Paris, and London 

Brussels, August 1, 191£. 
Sir, — 

I have the honor to inform you that the French Minister 
has made the following verbal communication to me: — 

I am authorized to declare that, in the event of an 
international war, the French Government, in accord- 
ance with the declarations they have always made, will 
respect the neutrality of Belgium. In the event of this 
neutrality not being respected by another power, the 
French Government, to secure their own defense, might 
find it necessary to modify their attitude. 

265 



OBSTACLES TO PEACE 

I thanked His Excellency and added that we on our side 
had taken without delay all the measures necessary to insure 
that our independence and our frontiers should be respected. 

On the same day the British Minister at Brussels 
sent this dispatch to Sir Edward Grey : — 

(Telegraphic.) Brussels, August 1, 191b. 

The instructions conveyed in your telegram of yesterday 
have been acted upon. 

Belgium expects and desires that other powers will ob- 
serve and uphold her neutrality, which she intends to 
maintain to the utmost of her power. In so informing me, 
Minister for Foreign Affairs said that, in the event of the vio- 
lation of the neutrality of their territory, they believed that 
they were in a position to defend themselves against intru- 
sion. The relations between Belgium and her neighbors were 
excellent, and there was no reason to suspect their inten- 
tions; but he thought it well, nevertheless, to be prepared 
against emergencies. 

On August 2, the German Minister at Brussels still 
believed that the neutrality of Belgium would be re- 
spected, as is seen from the following dispatch : — 

M. Davignon, Belgian Minister for Foreign Affairs, to Belgian 
Ministers at Paris, Berlin, London, Vienna, and St. 
Petersburg 

Brussels, August 2, 191£. 

Sir, — 

I was careful to warn the German Minister through M. de 
Bassompierre that an announcement in the Brussels press 
by M. Klobukowski, French Minister, would make public 
the formal declaration which the latter had made to me on 
the 1st August. When I next met Herr von Below he 
thanked me for this attention, and added that up to the 
present he had not been instructed to make us an official 
communication, but. that we knew his personal opinion as 
to the feelings of security which we had the right to enter- 

266 



THE NEUTRALITY OF BELGIUM 

tain towards our eastern neighbors. I at once replied that all 
that we knew of their intentions, as indicated in numerous 
previous conversations, did not allow us to doubt their per- 
fect correctness towards Belgium. I added, however, that 
we should attach the greatest importance to the possession 
of a formal declaration, which the Belgian nation would 
hear of with joy and gratitude. 

IV. The Tragic Prelude 

On August 2, at 7 p.m., the German Minister at 
Brussels handed the following note to M. Davignon. 
It was to be answered in twelve hours : — 

Reliable information has been received by the German 
Government to the effect that French forces intend to 
march on the line of the Meuse by Givet and Namur. 
This information leaves no doubt as to the intention of 
France to march through Belgian territory against Ger- 
many. 

The German Government cannot but fear that Belgium, 
in spite of the utmost good-will, will be unable, without 
assistance, to repel so considerable a French invasion with 
sufficient prospect of success to afford an adequate guaran- 
tee against danger to Germany. It is essential for the self- 
defense of Germany that she should anticipate any such 
hostile attack. The German Government would, however, 
feel the deepest regret if Belgium regarded as an act of hos- 
tility against herself the fact that the measures of Germany's 
opponents force Germany, for her own protection, to enter 
Belgian territory. 

In order to exclude any possibility of misunderstanding, 
the German Government makes the following declaration; 

1. Germany has in view no act of hostility against Bel- 
gium. In the event of Belgium being prepared in the coming 
war to maintain an attitude of friendly neutrality towards 
Germany, the German Government binds itself, at the con- 
clusion of peace, to guarantee the possessions and independ- 
ence of the Belgian Kingdom in full. 

267 



OBSTACLES TO PEACE 

2. Germany undertakes, under the above-mentioned con- 
dition, to evacuate Belgian territory on the conclusion of 
peace. 

3. If Belgium adopts a friendly attitude, Germany is pre- 
pared, in cooperation with the Belgian authorities, to pur- 
chase all necessaries for her troops against a cash payment, 
and to pay an indemnity for any damage that may have 
been caused by German troops. 

4. Should Belgium oppose the German troops, and in 
particular should she throw difficulties in the way of their 
march by resistance of the fortresses on the Meuse, or by 
destroying railways, roads, tunnels, or other similar works, 
Germany will, to her regret, be compelled to consider Bel- 
gium as an enemy. 

In this event, Germany can undertake no obligations to- 
wards Belgium, but the eventual adjustment of the relations 
between the two states must be left to the decision of arms. 

The German Government, however, entertains the dis- 
tinct hope that this eventuality will not occur, and that the 
Belgian Government will know how to take the necessary 
measures to prevent the occurrence of incidents such as 
those mentioned. In this case the friendly ties which bind 
the two neighboring states will grow stronger and more 
enduring. 

In all my study of diplomatic documents, I have 
seen none so brutal as this note. It goes far beyond the 
Austrian note to Servia that caused the war. Belgium 
was forbidden to defend herself. Such defensive mea- 
sures as the destruction of bridges, tunnels, roads, 
etc., are specifically forbidden. 

These are the agreements of all nations as to neutral 
territory : — 

1. The territory of neutral powers is inviolable. 

2. Belligerents are forbidden to move troops or convoys 
of either munitions of war or supplies across the terri- 
tory of a neutral power. 

268 



THE NEUTRALITY OF BELGIUM 

10. The fact of a neutral power resisting, even by force, 
attempts to violate its neutrality cannot be regarded 
as a hostile act. 

One must render homage to the reply of the Belgian 
Government to the peremptory demand of Germany. 
Here it is in full : — 

Note communicated by M. Davignon, Belgian Minister for 
Foreign Affairs, to Herr von Below Saleske, German 
Minister 

Brussels, August 3, 191 £ (7 a.m.). 

The German Government stated in their note of the 2d 
August, 1914, that according to reliable information French 
forces intended to march on the Meuse via Givet, and 
Namur, and that Belgium, in spite of the best intentions, 
would not be in a position to repulse, without assistance, an 
advance of French troops. 

The German Government, therefore, considered them- 
selves compelled to anticipate this attack and to violate 
Belgian territory. In these circumstances, Germany pro- 
posed to the Belgian Government to adopt a friendly atti- 
tude towards her, and undertook, on the conclusion of 
peace, to guarantee the integrity of the Kingdom and its 
possessions to their full extent. The note added that if 
Belgium put difficulties in the way of the advance of Ger- 
man troops, Germany would be compelled to consider her 
as an enemy, and to leave the ultimate adjustment of the 
relations between the two States to the decision of arms. 

This note has made a deep and painful impression upon 
the Belgian Government. 

The intentions attributed to France by Germany are in 
contradiction to the formal declarations made to us on 
August 1, in the name of the French Government. 

Moreover, if, contrary to our expectation, Belgian neu- 
trality should be violated by France, Belgium intends to 
fulfill her international obligations and the Belgian army 
would offer the most vigorous resistance to the invader. 

269 



OBSTACLES TO PEACE 






The treaties of 1839, confirmed by the treaties of 1870, 
vouch for the independence and neutrality of Belgium under 
the guarantee of the powers, and notably of the Government 
of His Majesty the King of Prussia. 

Belgium has always been faithful to her international 
obligations, she has carried out her duties in a spirit of loyal 
impartiality, and she has left nothing undone to maintain 
and enforce respect for her neutrality. 

The attack upon her independence with which the Ger- 
man Government threaten her constitutes a flagrant viola- 
tion of international law. No strategic interest justifies such 
a violation of law. 

The Belgian Government, if they were to accept the pro- 
posals submitted to them, would sacrifice the honor of the 
nation and betray their duty towards Europe. 

Conscious of the part which Belgium has played for more 
than eighty years in the civilization of the world, they refuse 
to believe that the independence of Belgium can only be 
preserved at the price of the violation of her neutrality. 

If this hope is disappointed the Belgian Government are 
firmly resolved to repel, by all the means in their power, 
every attack upon their rights. 

On the 3d of August the Belgian Government 
showed its very correct attitude by asking the diplo- 
matic help of Great Britain, as is seen in the appeal 
from King Albert to King George. This is the King's 
appeal : — 

His Majesty the King of the Belgians to His Majesty 

King George 

(Telegram.) Brussels, August 3, 191^. 

Remembering the numerous proofs of Your Majesty's 
friendship and that of your predecessor, and the friendly 
attitude of England in 1870 and the proof of friendship you 
have just given us again, I make a supreme appeal to the 
diplomatic intervention of Your Majesty's Government to 
safeguard the integrity of Belgium. 

270 



THE NEUTRALITY OF BELGIUM 

Finally, on August 4, Belgium, having been invaded, 
appeals to the guarantors in the following dispatch : — 

M. Davignon, Belgian Minister for Foreign Affairs, to British, 
French, and Russian Ministers at Brussels 

Brussels, August 4, 191b- 
Sir, — 

The Belgian Government regret to have to announce to 
Your Excellency that this morning the armed forces of 
Germany entered Belgian territory in violation of treaty 
engagements. 

The Belgian Government are firmly determined to resist 
by all the means in their power. 

Belgium appeals to Great Britain, France, and Russia to 
cooperate as guaranteeing powers in the defense of her 
territory. 

There should be concerted and joint action, to oppose the 
forcible measures taken by Germany against Belgium, and 
at the same time, to guarantee the future maintenance of 
the independence and integrity of Belgium. 

Belgium is happy to be able to declare that she will under- 
take the defense of her fortified places. 

Let us now consider Germany's course. When asked 
by the British Government on July 31, 1914, the reply 
was as follows : — 

From Sir Edward Goschen, British Ambassador at Berlin, to 

Sir Edward Grey 

(Telegraphic.) Berlin, July 31, 191b. 

Neutrality of Belgium, referred to in your telegram of 31st 
July to Sir F. Bertie. 

I have seen Secretary of State, who informs me that he 
must consult the Emperor and the Chancellor before he 
could possibly answer. I gathered from what he said that he 
thought any reply they might give could not but disclose a 
certain amount of their plan of campaign in the event of 

271 



OBSTACLES TO PEACE 

war ensuing, and he was therefore very doubtful whether 
they would return any answer at all. His Excellency, never- 
theless, took note of your request. 

In 1911, Von Bethmann-Hollweg refused to make a 
public assurance to Belgium as to Germany's inten- 
tions in case of war, on the ground that it might reveal 
the German plan of campaign. He, however, assured 
the Belgian Government privately that Germany 
would not violate her neutrality. 

Two points here are worth considering; first, that 
Germany was willing to take advantage to herself by 
the threat of committing a great crime, and secondly, 
that the Belgian Government was certainly not pro- 
English in accepting this private promise. 

Baron Beyens, in "Germany Before the War," 
says : — 

Very vague, too, was the language used by Herr von 
Kiderlen-Wachter in 1912. Scarcely had I taken up my post 
in Berlin before he complained to me about the excitement 
shown in Belgium during the Agadir crisis. As a mere meas- 
ure of precaution, we had put our fortresses into a state of 
defense. "There was no reason," the Foreign Secretary 
observed to me, " to fear that Germany would violate your 
neutrality or that of your Dutch neighbors." Fine words, 
but nothing more ! 

A year later, on April 29, 1913, Herr von Jagow, urged by 
a Socialist, at a Reichstag Committee, to explain himself on 
the subject of Belgian neutrality, curtly replied that this 
question was determined by international agreements, and 
that Germany would respect those agreements. He obstin- 
ately refused to say any more to another Socialist member, 
who was not satisfied with this summary answer. 

Evidently the German Government had been con- 
sidering the invasion of Belgium, since as early as 

272 



THE NEUTRALITY OF BELGIUM 

August 1, 1914, Prince Lichnowsky, the German 
Ambassador in London, asked Sir Edward Grey if 
England would remain neutral if Germany promised 
not to violate the neutrality of Belgium. 

As to Germany's allegations in regard to France's 
plans for violating Belgian neutrality, the French 
course of campaign at the outbreak of the war does 
not justify such a statement. France had massed her 
troops opposite the German frontier, and when the 
German forces swarmed through Belgium, she was 
obliged to rush troops to meet the invasion from that 
quarter. An immense number of railway trains was 
pressed into service for this purpose, and there was 
great danger of the communications being cut. As it 
was, France was able to make but slight resistance. 
Considering the splendid railway service that Ger- 
many possessed, enabling her to throw her troops on 
the Belgian frontier, it would seem that France could 
hardly have contemplated invading Germany through 
Belgium. And in fact she did not send sufficient 
troops even to protect her own Belgian frontier, much 
less enough to enable her to take the offensive through 
Belgium. It was three weeks before France was able 
to rearrange her plan of campaign so as to meet the 
German armies. 

The German Government has thus far produced no 
proof that either France or Belgium violated the lat- 
ter's neutrality. 

The German plan of campaign was simple, and had 
been concealed so thoroughly that the concealment 
constitutes an extraordinary achievement. Germany's 
plan was to contain the French armies on the French 
frontier, and rush her main forces through Belgium 

273 



OBSTACLES TO PEACE 

and Luxemburg, make a gigantic enveloping move- 
ment, surround the French armies and cut off their 
supplies, and thus achieve a second Sedan on a gi- 
gantic scale. 

Sir Edward Goschen, the British Ambassador at 
Berlin, was told by Von Jagow, Secretary of State, on 
August 1 : — 

Russia had said that her mobilization did not necessarily 
imply war, and that she could perfectly well remain mobilized 
for months without making war. This was not the case with 
Germany. She had the speed and Russia had the numbers, 
and the safety of the German Empire forbade that Germany 
should allow Russia time to bring up masses of troops from 
all parts of her wide dominions. 

And on August 4, Von Jagow said : — 

They had to advance into France by the quickest and 
easiest way, so as to be able to get well ahead with their 
operations and endeavor to strike some decisive blow as 
early as possible. It was a matter of life and death for them, 
as, if they had gone by the more southern route, they could 
not have hoped, in view of the paucity of roads and the 
strength of the fortresses, to get through without formid- 
able opposition entailing great loss of time. This loss of time 
would have meant time gained by the Russians for bringing 
up their troops to the German frontier. Rapidity of action 
was the great German asset, while that of Russia was an 
inexhaustible supply of troops. 

On the same day at six o'clock in the morning, the 
German Minister at Brussels made the following com- 
munication to M. Davignon : — 

In accordance with my instructions, I have the honor to 
inform Your Excellency that in consequence of the refusal 
of the Belgian Government to entertain the well-intentioned 
proposals made to it by the German Government, the latter, 

274 



THE NEUTRALITY OF BELGIUM 

to its deep regret, finds itself compelled to take — if neces- 
sary by force of arms — those measures of defense already 
designated as indispensable, in view of the menace of 
France. 

This meant war, and the German Minister to Bel- 
gium received his passports. 

King Albert's address to the Belgian Parliament on 
August 4, is as follows : — 

Never since 1830 has a graver hour sounded for Belgium. 
The force of our right and the necessity for Europe of our 
autonomous existence make us still hope that the events 
which we fear will not take place; but if it is necessary to 
resist the invasion of our soil, duty will find us armed and 
decided upon the greatest sacrifices! 

From this moment our youth will have risen to defend 
our fatherland against the danger. A single duty is imposed 
on our will : a determined resistance, courage, and unity. 

Our enthusiasm is shown by our irreproachable mobiliza- 
tion and by the multitude of our volunteers. 

The moment for action is here. 1 have called you to- 
gether to allow the Chambers to associate themselves in the 
enthusiasm of the country. You will find a way to pass all 
these measures at once. You are all decided to preserve in- 
tact the sacred patrimony of our ancestors. No one will fail 
in his duty. 

The army is equal to its task. The Government and my- 
self have full confidence. The Government understands its 
responsibilities and will maintain them till the end to safe- 
guard the supreme good of the country. If the stranger 
violates our territory, he will find all Belgians gathered round 
their Sovereign, who will never betray his constitutional oath. 

I have faith in our destinies. A country which defends 
itself imposes respect on all and does not perish. God will be 
with us. 

I envy no one who can read these simple, heroic 
words without emotion. I hope that the youth of 

275 



OBSTACLES TO PEACE 

generations yet unborn may decide when they read 
history that the King of the Belgians was most to be 
envied of the kings and emperors of the Great War. 
On August 5, M. Davignon sent to the Belgian 
Foreign Ministers in all lands this dispatch: — 

By the treaty of April 19, 1839, Prussia, France, Great 
Britain, Austria, and Russia declared themselves guarantors 
of the treaty concluded on the same day between His 
Majesty the King of the Belgians and His Majesty the King 
of the Netherlands. The treaty reads " Belgium shall form 
an independent and perpetually neutral State." Belgium 
has fulfilled all her international obligations; she has accom- 
plished her duty in a spirit of loyal impartiality; she has 
neglected no effort to maintain her neutrality and to cause 
that neutrality to be respected. 

In these circumstances the Belgian Government has 
learned with deep pain that the armed forces of Germany, 
a Power guaranteeing Belgian neutrality, have entered 
Belgian territory in violation of the obligations undertaken 
by treaty. 

It is our duty to protest with indignation against an out- 
rage against international law provoked by no act of ours. 

The Royal Government is firmly determined to repel by 
all the means in its power the attack thus made upon its 
neutrality, and it recalls the fact that, in virtue of Article 10 
of the Hague Convention of 1907 respecting the rights and 
duties of neutral powers and persons in the case of war by 
land, if a neutral power repels, even by force, attacks on her 
neutrality, such action cannot be considered as a hostile act. 

V. Statements of Baron Beyens, Belgian Minister 

at Berlin 

I will add to the story of the documents the souve- 
nirs of Baron Beyens, who tells first of the relations of 
the courts of Germany and Belgium, and then gives a 
vivid picture of the terrible days just before Belgium 

276 



THE NEUTRALITY OF BELGIUM 

was invaded. In his book, "Germany Before the 
War," Baron Beyens writes: — 

When the negotiations skillfully conducted at the opening 
of the new reign for the fixing of the boundary between the 
Congo and German East Africa were nearing their end, our 
young Sovereign wished to give the Emperor a token of his 
personal feelings, and of his sincere wish to keep up good 
relations with Germany in Africa as well as in Europe. 
Together with the Queen, he paid him an official visit at the 
close of 1910. I was in Their Majesties' suite. Their recep- 
tion at Potsdam was very cordial and of an almost intimate 
character, apart from the two customary spring parades, 
which our Sovereigns attended, and the military banquets 
that followed. Unfortunately, a slight illness of the Emper- 
or's robbed this visit of its chief attraction for spectators 
who, like myself, were eager to note the expression of the 
Imperial mask. 

At the Court dinner the Crown Prince read the speech 
prepared by his father, and bade the royal pair welcome. 
The most salient passages were those alluding to the wedded 
bliss that a princess of a German house had brought to our 
King, and recalling the ties of blood between the two fami- 
lies, besides the historical memories that linked the two 
countries. King Albert, in his reply, above all praised the 
Emperor as a man of peace, who had devoted his life to 
securing the welfare of his subjects and the economic ad- 
vance of Germany. 

The German Sovereigns did not wait until the following 
year before returning the visit. They came to Brussels at 
the end of October, accompanied by their daughter. The 
presence of the young princess bore further witness to their 
genuine friendship with King Albert and Queen Elizabeth. 
William II, both in his official after-dinner speeches and his 
private conversations, declared himself deeply touched by 
the welcome that he had received. His heart warmed to the 
Belgian people, and he was delighted at their successes in 
the sphere of industry and commerce, as revealed in striking 
fashion at the Brussels International Exhibition. Jovial, 

277 



OBSTACLES TO PEACE 

affable, enthusiastic in turn, and constantly breaking into 
his guttural laugh, he ran up and down the whole gamut of 
his nature. His hearers were spellbound. How could they 
have failed to be convinced that the great Emperor in their 
midst was a benevolent Titan? 

Obvious attempts to gain for Germany the favor of the 
Belgian Court and society, amazement at our prosperity — 
such were the impressions left upon us by the mobile face 
and winning smile of our august visitor. Brussels, unused to 
receiving royal personages, had spared no effort in order to 
rise to the occasion. 

When the Emperor, from the balcony of the Town Hall, 
had feasted his eyes on the incomparable scene of the 
market-place, he exclaimed to the Empress: "We did not 
expect anything so beautiful! " While on his way back from 
a drive to Tervueren 1 on the magnificent road constructed 
by the late King, he expressed his astonishment at the num- 
ber of sumptuous villas along the way, and estimated the 
incomes of their owners. . . . 

Early hints of war 

After Agadir, William II came to regard war with Prance 
as inexorably decreed by Fate. 

On the 5th and 6th of November, 1913, the King of the 
Belgians was his (the Kaiser's) guest at Potsdam, after 
returning from Llineburg, where he had paid his usual 
courtesy visit to the regiment of dragoons of which he was 
honorary colonel. On this occasion the Emperor told King 
Albert that he looked upon war with France as " inevitable 
and close at hand." What reason did he give for this pessi- 
mistic statement, which impressed his royal visitor all the 
more strongly since the belief in the peaceful sentiments of 
the Emperor had not yet been shaken in Belgium? He 

1 It will be noticed in the extracts from the Dutch Professor Grondys, in 
the chapter on the alleged atrocities in Belgium, that it was at Tervueren 
that the young Jesuit father was executed for referring in an uncompli- 
mentary manner in his notebook to the destruction of the Library of 
Louvain. 

278 



THE NEUTRALITY OF BELGIUM 

pointed out that France herself wanted war, and that she 
was arming rapidly with that end in view, as was proved by 
the vote on the law enacting a three years' term of military 
service. At the same time he declared that he felt certain of 
victory. The Belgian monarch, who was better informed as 
to the real inclinations of the French Government and peo- 
ple, tried in vain to enlighten him, and to dispel from his 
mind the false picture that he drew from the language of a 
handful of fanatical patriots, the picture of a France thirst- 
ing for war. 

The real object of these confidential outbursts is not 
hard to discover. They were an invitation to our country, 
face to face with the danger that threatened Western Eu- 
rope, to throw herself into the arms of the stronger, arms 
ready to open, to clasp Belgium, — yes, and to crush her. 
When we think of the ultimatum issued to Belgium on the 
following 2d of August, we realize to what an act of ser- 
vility and cowardice William II, through this Potsdam in- 
terview, would fain have driven King Albert. 

On the 6th of November General von Moltke, Chief of 
the General Staff, after a dinner to which the Emperor, in 
honor of his guest, had invited the leading officials present 
in Berlin, had a conversation with King Albert. He expressed 
himself in the same terms as his Sovereign on the subject of 
war with France, asserted that it was bound to come soon, 
and insisted still more emphatically on the certain prospect 
of success, in view of the enthusiasm with which the whole 
German nation would gird up its loins to beat back the tradi- 
tional foe. 

General von Moltke also said to the Belgian Military 
Attache: "War with France at an early date is inevitable, 
and the victory of the German army is certain, even if it is 
purchased by tremendous sacrifices and by a few prelimin- 
ary set-backs. Nothing can stop the furor teutonicus once 
it has been let loose. The German nation will rise as one 
man to take up the gauntlet which the French people will 
have the insane foolhardiness to throw down." 

The introduction of universal service in Belgium was not 
looked upon with favor in Germany. As a matter of fact, the 

279 



OBSTACLES TO PEACE 

Emperor ought to have been delighted. During his visit to 
Switzerland in the previous autumn, he had complained of 
the exposed state of his northwestern frontier, as contrasted 
with the solid rampart provided in the south by the excellent 
troops of the Swiss Confederation. The German newspapers 
spoke of our military reforms without any malicious com- 
ments, but the same cannot be said of the German officer 
class. I was able to gather this from the remarks made to 
me by Baron von Zedlitz, colonel of a dragoon regiment of 
the Guards, and grandson, on his mother's side, of a former 
Belgian Minister at Berlin. No doubt the Belgian sympa- 
thies that he had inherited from his mother moved him to 
unbosom himself to me one day. "What is the good," he 
said, " of enlarging the number of your troops? With the 
small number that you had before, you surely never dreamt of 
barring the way to us in a Franco-German war. The increase 
of your effectives might inspire you with the idea of resisting 
us. If a single shot were fired on us, Heaven knows what 
would become of Belgium!" This was the language of a 
friend, not of a soldier. 

The passage of the belligerents through Belgium was a 
favorite theme with all writers, French, German, English, 
Dutch, and Belgian, who handled, more or less competently, 
the problem of the coming war. Some of Germany's prepa- 
rations for invading her neighbors could not be hidden, and 
these naturally gave a fillip to the discussion of various moot 
points. As early as 1911, ten railway lines, both single and 
double, ran from the Eifel region to the Belgian frontier or 
the Duchy of Luxemburg. Four others were under con- 
struction, and yet another four were projected. Most of these 
lines were quite needless for the purposes of traffic, and their 
aim was purely strategic. Stations with full plant and spe- 
cial platforms for the arrival and departure of troops had 
been built with that methodical thoroughness for which the 
Germans are famous. An enormous concentration camp, 
with a range for artillery practice, had been established at 
L senborn, near Malmedy, a stone's throw from our frontier. 
Which route would be chosen by the oncoming host? 
So far, we had no cause for doubting that our frontiers 

280 



THE NEUTRALITY OF BELGIUM 

were impregnable, still less that they were capable of resist- 
ing. The progress of ballistics in Germany and Austria, the 
terrible results gained by unremitting toil in the workshops 
of Krupp and Skoda, were still unknown to the outside 
world. No one suspected the existence of German seventeen- 
inch and Austrian twelve-inch mortars, which would shatter 
a fort of concrete and steel in a few hours under a fire of pro- 
jectiles weighing nearly a ton. 

Some writers limited the German march to the right bank 
of the Meuse, across Belgian Luxemburg, despite the scarc- 
ity of roads and the obstacles that the broken nature of the 
country would offer to a rapid onset. Belgian Luxemburg, 
an outlying spur of our territory in the Ardennes district, 
seemed impossible for a Belgian force to defend. 

^ Other military prophets, such as General Dejardin in Bel- 
gium and General Maitrot in France held that the enemy 
would operate mainly in great masses on the left bank of 
the Meuse. 

In point of fact, however, the plan of the German Staff 
had not been fathomed. Among those who could speak 
with authority, the greater number imagined that only the 
right wing of the army directed against France would pass 
through Belgium. They had not guessed the bold maneu- 
ver, the tremendous developments, that we have seen carried 
out: to leave a "curtain" of troops along the Vosges line, 
and with three fourths of the army to cross the Meuse at 
several points, from Vise right down to Dinant; to take 
Liege and Namur by storm, if necessary; to march on 
Brussels, sweeping aside the Belgian army; and thence to 
turn off southwards by the various routes that lead to 
Paris. The whole northwestern section of France was un- 
provided with defenses, excepting the fortress of Maubeuge. 
Once the plains of Belgium had been traversed, the road 
to Paris would be open. 

The reader must picture to himself not a stream or a tor- 
rent, but a veritable sea of men, inundating our country 
from Holland to Luxemburg, a million and a half to two 
million soldiers! The defensive plans of Germany's oppo- 
nents had not allowed for the inrush of such an avalanche 

281 



OBSTACLES TO PEACE 






through Belgium. At the outset of the war, according to an 
official Note issued by the Republican Government, the 
whole of the French forces were disposed over against the 
German border, from Belfort to the Belgian frontier. 

The days just before the invasion 

The Brussels Cabinet did not know, any more than I did, 
of the bargaining which the German Government had at- 
tempted in order to wrest from England a promise that 
she would remain neutral. First it was France's turn to be 
chaffered over; then came Belgium. Herr von Bethmann- 
Hollweg, in his interview of 29th July with Sir Edward Gos- 
chen, had confined himself to stating that our country 
would suffer no loss of territory, provided it did not take 
sides against Germany. He gave no guarantee as to our in- 
dependence. This engagement would be enough, he fancied, 
to make the English, who were reluctant to face the hazards 
of a Continental war, maintain the role of impartial on- 
lookers, since they would not have to fear either the dis- 
memberment of France or the disappearance of the little 
Belgian Kingdom. Nevertheless, on the morning of 4th 
August, when the Chancellor learned that Belgium was 
girding herself for a vigorous resistance, he grasped the 
necessity for calming London's excitement by a notable 
advance on his former bid. He telegraphed to the German 
Ambassador, ordering him to tell Sir Edward Grey as soon 
as possible that under no pretense whatever would Germany 
annex Belgian territory. On the afternoon of the same day, 
growing uneasy at England's silence, he repeated to the 
Reichstag, with an addition, the guarantee he had proffered 
to Sir Edward Grey: "So long as Great Britain remains 
neutral, we shall respect the integrity and independence 
of Belgium." 

It was too late. An irretrievable blunder had been com- 
mitted on the evening of 2d August; namely, the dispatch of 
a highly confidential Note, the most brutal of ultimatums, 
to the Belgian Foreign Minister. Not a word was said in 
this document of the 1839 treaties or of Belgian neutrality, 

282 



THE NEUTRALITY OF BELGIUM 

beyond a vague hint that France was about to make use of 
Belgian territory in her advance against Germany, a pro- 
ceeding that compelled the latter to come to our aid. Then 
various baits are held out to Belgium, if she will desert her 
trust as a neutral. By a diplomatic euphemism, the cowardly 
act demanded of her is cloaked under the name of "benevo- 
lent neutrality." The integrity and independence of the 
kingdom will be respected to the full (nothing is said explic- 
itly about the Congo), her territory will be evacuated after 
the conclusion of peace, the German troops will pay cash 
down for all that they require, and an indemnity will be 
granted for any damage that they may cause. The sting is 
in the tail; the threats are reserved for the end. If any armed 
resistance is offered, if any obstacles are placed in the way 
of the German march, if any roads, railways, or works of 
art are destroyed, Belgium will be treated as an enemy. 
This one word reveals our doom. 

I learned on 2d August, from our Military Attache (who 
had the news from an officer of the Emperor's household), 
that the Grand Duchy of Luxemburg had been occupied. 
The route followed by the German army left me no doubt as 
to the coming invasion of Belgian Luxemburg, and I tele- 
graphed this pessimistic forecast to my Government. Yet I 
had not gauged the full measure of the disaster that was 
about to overtake my country. On the evening of Monday, 
3d August, I received the official telegram informing me of 
the German ultimatum and of our reply. At first I was 
dumfounded; then came a fierce glow of indignation. I 
tried to betray no sign of this to my young secretaries, in 
order that their sorrow and their anger might not be need- 
lessly increased. I spent a part of the night in reflecting 
on the questions that I would put to the Foreign Secre- 
tary at the earliest opportunity. I felt it my bounden 
duty to go to him and insist upon a downright explana- 
tion of the nameless act perpetrated by the German Gov- 
ernment. 

The readiness with which Herr von Jagow let me know 
that he hoped to see me at the Foreign Office on Tuesday 
morning proved that he was no less impatient than I to have 

283 



OBSTACLES TO PEACE 

this decisive interview. When I arrived, at nine o'clock, the 
Foreign Secretary was already at work in his room. 

Before many words had passed between us, I saw that we 
were speaking two different languages, and that neither 
could understand the other's tongue. I invoked Belgium's 
honor, the honor that is no less sacred to a nation than to an 
individual; her obligations as a neutral, her past conduct, 
always thoroughly loyal towards Germany (this the Secre- 
tary of State ungrudgingly admitted), and her inability to 
answer the Imperial Government's proposal in any other 
way than she had answered it already. 

Baron Beyens refers the reader to a report of this 
conversation by his fellow countryman, M. Waxweiler, 
in "La Belgique Neutre." I reproduce this conversa- 
tion : — 

The Belgian Minister had scarcely pronounced his greet- 
ings when Herr von Jagow exclaimed: — ■ 

" Believe me, it is with anguish in her heart that 
Germany has resolved to violate Belgian neutrality; 
and personally I feel the most poignant regret. But 
what else is possible? It is a question of life or death 
for the Empire. If the German armies would avoid be- 
ing caught between hammer and anvil, they must strike 
a vigorous blow upon the side of France so as to be 
able to turn then upon Russia." 

"But," said Baron Beyens, "the French frontier is 
of such an extent as to make passage through Belgium 
avoidable." 

" But that frontier is too well fortified. Besides, what 
is it we ask of you? Simply to permit us a free passage 
and not to destroy your railways or your tunnels, and 
to allow us to occupy the fortified places which we 
need." 

"There is," immediately rejoined the Belgian Min- 
ister, "a very easy way of formulating the only reply 
admissible to such a demand. It is this: Suppose 

£84 



THE NEUTRALITY OF BELGIUM 

France had preferred the selfsame request and we had 
yielded. Would not Germany have said that we had 
basely betrayed her?" 

The Secretary of State allowing this clear-cut interroga- 
tion to pass without answer, Baron Beyens completed his 
thought. 

"Have you," he asked, "the least thing with which 
to reproach us? Have we not always, for three quarters 
of a century, fulfilled toward Germany, as well as to all 
the great powers guarantors [of the neutrality of Bel- 
gium], all our duties of neutrality? Have we not given 
Germany proof of our loyal friendship? With what coin 
does Germany repay all this? With making Belgium 
the battle-field of Europe, and we know what devas- 
tation, what calamity modern warfare brings in its 
train." 

"Germany has nothing with which she can reproach 
Belgium; the attitude of Belgium has always been be- 
yond reproach (d'une correction parfaite)" admitted 
Herr von Jagow. 

"You will admit," replied Baron Beyens, "that Bel- 
gium can make no other reply than that which she has 
already given, without the loss of honor. It is with 
nations as it is with individuals; there is not a different 
kind of honor for a people than for one's self. You must 
admit," urged Baron Beyens, "our reply had to be 
what it is." 

"I grant you that as a private individual, but as 
Secretary of State I have no opinion to express." 

When I announced my intention of leaving Berlin and of 
demanding my passports, he remonstrated : he did not want 
to break off relations with me ! Wliat had he expected from 
this interview, and what did he expect now? 

As I withdrew, I shot the Parthian arrow that I had kept 
in reserve: the violation of Belgian neutrality would mean 
for Germany a war with England. Herr von Jagow had been 
speaking with emotion, in an earnest tone, which he tried 

285 



OBSTACLES TO PEACE 

to make persuasive; but at this he merely shrugged his 
shoulders. 

During the afternoon the Emperor's speech in the Reich- 
stag exhorted the nation's delegates to help in carrying to a 
triumphant issue this war that had been forced upon Ger- 
many! William II said nothing about the violation of Bel- 
gium, but called down upon his arms the blessing of the 
Most High, his wonted confidant. 

The next speaker was the Chancellor. More honest than 
he has been since then, he unhesitatingly confessed the 
wrong that had been done to Belgium, and promised to 
make amends so soon as the military aim should have been 
attained. 

I had not been at fault, however, in predicting to Herr von 
Jagow a war with England. That same evening I dined 
alone at the Kaiserhof, a prey to gloomiest forebodings. 
As I left the restaurant, a handful of papers were flung to 
me from a "Berliner Tageblatt" motor-car. Marveling at 
the swift fulfillment of my prophecy, I read that Great 
Britain had declared war on Germany, and that her Ambas- 
sador, a few hours earlier, had handed in an ultimatum to 
the Imperial Government. I at once bethought myself of 
rushing to the British Embassy, in order to obtain some 
further details of this wonderful news. Was it thus that 
Heaven answered the appeals of her favorite? 

Round about that part of the Wilhelmstrasse in which the 
British Embassy is situated a large crowd had forgathered. 
Respectably dressed citizens of both sexes were bellowing 
out, with frantic enthusiasm, their best-loved hymn, 
" Deutschland iiber Alles." The national anthem was suc- 
ceeded by a volley of cat-calls, after which came a shower 
of missiles — brickbats and lumps of coal. The ground- 
floor windows of the Embassy were shivered to atoms, the 
two policemen posted on either side of the door making no 
attempt to interfere. I had seen and heard enough. As I 
was wending my way homewards, a gleam of hope stole 
into my heart amid all its grief and anguish. I saw a terri- 
ble face rising above the blood-red horizon — the face of 
the British Nemesis. 

286 



THE NEUTRALITY OF BELGIUM 

VI. Germany's Charges at the Beginning 
of the War 

In a document published September, 1914, signed 
by Prince von Biilow, Dr. von Schmoller, Professor 
Rohrbach, Dr. Jaeckh, Dr. Kaempf , President of the 
Reichstag, Count Reventlow, Dr. Rathenau, General 
von der Goltz, Herr von Gwinner, head of the Deutsche 
Bank, Herr Ballin, head of the Hamburg-American 
Line, and many other leading men, appear the follow- 
ing statements : — 

Before one German soldier had crossed the German 
frontier, a large number of French aeroplanes came flying 
into our country across the neutral territory of Belgium and 
Luxemburg without a word of warning on the part of the 
Belgian Government. At the same time the German 
Government learned that the French were about to enter 
Belgium. Then our Government with great reluctance had 
to decide upon requesting the Belgian Government to allow 
our troops to march through its territory. Belgium was to 
be indemnified after the war, was to retain its sovereignty 
and integrity. Belgium protested, at the same time allowing, 
by an agreement with France, that the French troops might 
enter Belgium. After all this, and not till France and Bel- 
gium itself had broken the neutrality, our troops entered 
the neutral territory. Germany wanted nothing from Bel- 
gium, but had to prevent Belgian soil from being used as a 
gate of entrance into German territory. 

Great Britain asked in return for its neutrality that the 
German forces should not enter Belgium. In other words, 
it asked that Germany should allow the French and Belgian 
troops to form on Belgian territory for a march against our 
frontier. This we could not allow. It would have been 
suicidal. 

The German troops, with their iron discipline, will respect 
the personal liberty and property of the individual in Bel- 
gium, just as they did in France in 1870. 

287 



OBSTACLES TO PEACE 

The Belgians would have been wise if they had permitted 
the passage of the German troops. They would have pre- 
served their integrity, and besides that, would have fared 
well from the business point of view, for the army would 
have proved a good customer and paid cash. 

Now, it may be said that such men would not sign 
these statements unless they believed them, and fur- 
ther it may be said that they express the fundamental 
convictions of the German people. 

How can we account for such confusion of thought? 
Great Britain never asked, in return for neutrality, 
that German forces should not enter Belgium. 

How can we account for such a group of men sug- 
gesting that Belgium should sell her honor for cash? 

How can we account for the assertion that the 
German Government learned that the French were 
about to enter Belgium, when nearly all France's 
armies were opposite the German frontier? There has 
been no proof of French aeroplanes flying over Belgium 
and Luxemburg. If there had been, this would have 
been a just cause for remonstrance, not invasion. 

An investigation was made by two distinguished 
French professors as to these allegations, who write in 
part : — 

As we wished to ascertain whether the German news- 
papers had given a more detailed account of these occur- 
rences, we consulted five of the principal newspapers 
(" Vorwaerts," "Arbeiter Zeitung" of Vienna, "Frank- 
furter Zeitung," " Kolnische Zeitung," " Munchner Neueste 
Nachrichten") from the end of July to the 5th of August. 
First of all we noticed that the aviator who is said to have 
flown over Karlsruhe is not mentioned. As for the others, 
the account of them is as vague as it is in the official note. 
These incidents, given as the cause determining war, take 

288 



THE NEUTRALITY OF BELGIUM 

up one line, two or three at the most. The bombs never left 
any trace. One of these aeroplanes, that at Wesel, is said 
to have been brought down; nothing is said of the aviator 
and what became of him, nor is there anything about the 
aeroplane itself. In a word, the Germans took care to draw 
attention to their arrival in Germany and then never spoke 
of them again. They were never seen to return to their 
starting-point. 

But we have still more convincing evidence. We have 
been able to procure a Nuremberg newspaper, the " Frank- 
ischer Kurrier." On the 2d of August, the day the bombs 
are supposed to have been thrown, not a word is said about 
the incident. Nuremberg received the news on the 3d by a 
telegram from Berlin identical to that published by the 
other newspapers. Again, the "Kolnische Zeitung" of the 
3d, in its morning edition, published a telegram from Mu- 
nich which read as follows: " The Bavarian Minister of War 
is doubtful as to the exactness of the news announcing that 
aviators had been seen above the lines Nuremberg-Kitzingen 
and Nuremberg-Anspach and that they had thrown bombs 
on the railway." 

Up to the present time the German Government has 
produced no proof of aggression by France. I give 
certain orders by the French military authorities that 
indicate the course of France, and also, incidentally, 
that of Belgium : — 

General secret instructions for covering troops 

Issued at Paris, August 2, 191£. 

(1) From information received it appears that the Ger- 
mans have this morning violated the French frontier at 
three points, namely, between Delle and Belfort, opposite 
Cirey-sur-Vezouze, and both to the north and south of 
Longwy. 

Under these circumstances, the order forbidding the pas- 
sage of troops eastwards beyond the line laid down by tele- 

289 



OBSTACLES TO PEACE 

gram No. 129 — 3/11 T, situated generally at a distance of 
10 kilometres from the frontier, is hereby rescinded. Never- 
theless, for national reasons of a moral kind and for most 
important reasons of diplomacy, it is absolutely necessary 
to leave to the Germans all responsibility for hostilities. 
Therefore, until further orders, covering troops will confine 
themselves to driving back attacking forces beyond the 
frontier without pursuing them and without penetrating 
into the territory of the enemy. 

(2) The Commander-in-Chief intends to take up the gen- 
eral offensive only when his forces have been concentrated. 

(Signed) J. Joffre, 

General Commander-in-Chief. 

Message telephoned to the officers in command of sections of 

covering troops 

Paris, August 3, 10.30 a.m. 
The first paragraph of the General Instructions for cover- 
ing troops, issued yesterday, the 2d of August, at 5.30 p.m., 
laid stress upon the urgent necessity of not crossing the 
frontier for reasons therein specified. If any incidents should 
occur, they must only take place and be developed on French 
territory. This order will be confirmed to you by an officer 
of the Grand General Staff, who will go to see you this even- 
ing by motor-car. 

(Signed) J. Joffre, 

The General Commander-in-Chief. 

Telegrams sent to the Second, Sixth, Seventh, Twentieth, and 

Twenty-first Corps 

August 4, I9l£, 1040 a.m. 
War is declared. 

Italy has made an official declaration of complete neu- 
trality. Germany will endeavor, by the dissemination of 
false news, to induce us to violate the neutrality of Belgium 
and Switzerland. It is strictly forbidden, in the most formal 
manner, until the issue of new orders, to the contrary, that 

290 



THE NEUTRALITY OF BELGIUM 

any of our troops should penetrate, either as patrols or single 
scouts, into Swiss or Belgian territory, or that any airman 
should fly over the territories of these countries. 

(Signed) Messimy. 



Instructions issued in common to the Cavalry Corps and to 

the Second Corps 

Paris, August 5, 7.20 and 745 a.m. 

(1) French aeroplanes and dirigibles are authorized to 
fly over Belgian territory. But as the Belgian troops were 
yesterday still under orders to fire upon all airships, and as 
the countermanding order may not as yet have reached 
everybody, it will be necessary for our pilots to fly at a con- 
siderable height. 

(2) Cavalry patrols for reconnaissance work are also 
authorized to penetrate into Belgian territory, but for the 
present they must not be supported by any large bodies of 
troops. Your object from now onwards should be to act upon 
this authority with discretion, so as to cut the lines of com- 
munication as near to the frontier of Luxemburg as possible 
— that is to say, the roads leading westwards from in front 
of Virton-Stavelot. 

(3) Express orders must be issued to the troops to regard 
themselves as being in the country of a friend and ally; to 
make no requisitions until the convention, now under dis- 
cussion, on this subject has been made known, and to buy 
nothing except by friendly agreement and for ready cash. 

J. Joffre, 
The General Commander-in-Chief. 

VII. The Innocence of Belgium 

To understand the German belief in regard to the 
neutrality of Belgium it is necessary to know the gen- 
eral beliefs in Germany as to the character and aims of 
England. These I have illustrated by quotations in this 
book. Then we must add to this a state of mind that 

291 



OBSTACLES TO PEACE 

in an individual would be called the mania of persecu- 
tion. 

The German people are absolutely convinced that 
Belgium was one of the conspiring enemies that united 
to destroy Germany. A careful study of the docu- 
ments, collateral material, and the actual facts, aside 
from the printed words, show that these charges are 
absolutely without foundation. 

It also seems probable that the German war plans 
involved the invasion of France by way of Belgium, 
but I believe that Germany did not anticipate such 
resistance on the part of Belgium, and that when Ger- 
many made the second offer to Belgium after the fall 
of Liege she expected the acquiescence of Belgium. 

The "Deutsche Kriege Zeitung," official paper of 
the German Military Association, says (War Edition) : 

The plan for the invasion of France had been prepared 
years ago. It had to be pursued successfully on the northern 
part of France through Belgium, so as to avoid the strongly 
fortified lines with which the enemy had protected her 
German frontier, and which it would have been very diffi- 
cult to pierce. 

As to Germany's strategic railways, I give this 
statement of Walter Littlefield : — 

The strategic dispositions of Germany, especially as re- 
gards railways, have for some years given rise to the apprehen- 
sion that Germany would attack France through Belgium. 

The disposition of the Third, Seventh, Ninth, Tenth, 
and Eleventh Germany Army Corps and the First, Fourth, 
and Fifth Cavalry Divisions, from August % to 5, shown on 
French war maps, reveals that the attack was so made. 

Stewart Houston Chamberlain makes a similar 
statement : — 

292 



THE NEUTRALITY OF BELGIUM 

The German victories are not, in the first place, due to the 
"furor teutonicus" of which one hears so much; on the con- 
trary, they are mainly based on the calm, efficient, and fore- 
seeing work of decades. By well-informed quarters I am told 
that the whole of the present plan of campaign dates in its 
very details back to old Moltke; he had drawn up a plan for 
a war on two as well as on three fronts. This plan has been 
kept up-to-date by the indefatigable labors of the General 
Staff — new means of transport, auto-transport, aeronau- 
tics, the new arms, have all been taken into consideration, 
and the plan extended; in addition it has been nearly daily 
tested as to its readiness. . . . 

Belgium was expected to submit under terrorization. 
The German documents prove this, but if there is 
one lesson taught by the war, it is this : that threats, 
coercion, terrorization, do not make people yield. Il- 
lustrations are the failure of Austria to coerce Servia, 
and of Germany and Austria to coerce Russia, and 
the failure of Germany to coerce Belgium, and the fail- 
ure of Germany to coerce Turkey in regard to the Ar- 
menian massacres. Sir Edward Grey, carrying on his 
efforts for peace during the fateful thirteen days, with- 
out threats or attempts to coerce, showed a much bet- 
ter understanding of human psychology. 

Excepting the German official Zeppelin reports I 
have examined no body of material so utterly de- 
tached from reality as the various and varying charges, 
made by the German Government and German publi- 
cists and professors, against Belgium. 

The German Government largely depends for its 
information in regard to such matters on the military 
authorities. The military authorities depend on their 
Intelligence Department. 

Judging by the reports made by the Intelligence 

293 



OBSTACLES TO PEACE 

Department as to the Zeppelin raids, and as to the acts 
of France and Belgium at the opening of the war, I 
believe that the Intelligence Department is very badly 
informed, and it is well to remember that the reasons 
assigned by the military authorities that led to the dec- 
laration of war against Russia, depended on informa- 
tion furnished by this same Intelligence Department. 




CHAPTER XV 

THE GERMAN THEORIES AND PRACTICE OF DEPOR- 
TATIONS AND OF TERRITORIAL APPROPRIATION 

I. The Origin of the Theories 

The actually or potentially dominating nations of the 
twentieth century are the United States, the British 
Empire, Germany, and Russia. War and peace and the 
security of other nations are determined by the policies 
and acts of these four dominant powers. Of these four 
powers the United States and Russia possess in a very 
high degree the essential factor of natural safety. On 
the other hand, the British Empire and Germany lack 
the essential factor of natural safety. Hence the Brit- 
ish Navy and the German Army. 

Germany has two great lacks: territory and se- 
curity. Russia, with one sixth of the earth's surface, 
larger than the United States, Canada, and Mexico 
combined, with two and one half times the population 
of Germany, and the highest birth-rate of any nation 
in the world, impends over Germany. This thought 
greatly preoccupies the minds of those charged with 
the safety of the Fatherland. It is the obsession of 
Germany. 

For centuries Germany was merely a geographical 
name, designating many little nations, often mutually 
distrustful and hostile. For centuries also Germany 
was the battle-field of Europe. The wars of the na- 
tions were fought on her fields. The German Em- 
pire was conceived by the sword and born on the 

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OBSTACLES TO PEACE 

battle-field. The most persistent tradition of Germany 
is war. 

The nineteenth century is Germany's century. Un- 
der the spur of necessity she mastered more thoroughly 
than any other nation the inventions and discoveries 
of the last hundred years. These inventions and dis- 
coveries led to intensive internal development in all 
countries. The new body of knowledge revolutionized 
education, agriculture, hygiene and social and indus- 
trial organization. 

Given other factors the basic force of a nation lies in 
the health and vigor of the people. In Germany physi- 
cal training for the army both improves the health of 
the people and disciplines them. To overcome the 
inequalities and unhygienic condition of modern indus- 
trial life, Germany introduced government insurance 
and special care of working-men on a national scale. 

Professor Fuster said years ago, before one could think of 
the war, that German social reform "had made Germany 
strong and full of life-force, to last forever." 

I believe Professor Zimmermann has coined the saying: 
that German social policy has " contributed as much to the 
gigantic and victorious mobilization of the German nation 
as the General Staff, the Deutsche Bank, and the railway." 

Poets, philosophers, statesmen, warriors, scientists, 
manufacturers, traders, master minds — all have 
worked together in Germany in the most harmonious 
and efficient coordination to create their ideal nation. 
Two things they could not change — their situation 
in the heart of Europe and the extent of their territory. 

The extraordinary efficiency of the Germans, their 
enormously increased and rapidly growing population, 
and their intense sense of nationality caused in them 

296 



GERMAN THEORIES AND PRACTICE 

a passionate revolt against the limited extent of their 
contiguous territory, and against the natural insecurity 
of their empire. These factors led to the birth of a 
body of feelings and beliefs that ultimately affected 
the whole national mind. First there was a sense of 
great superiority over other nations, then a belief in the 
decadence of their rivals; and finally, a sense of exas- 
peration that the world should be parceled out in such 
a manner as to give the most worthy nation territory 
of absolutely insignificant extent. If the population 
of the United States were 70,000,000 and confined to 
the State of California, we should probably regard 
South America with its 9,000,000 square miles and a 
population of 75,000,000 with an acquisitive mind. 

II. The Mission of the German People and their 

Sense of Superiority 

I can give a better idea of this sense of superiority in 
the German people by quoting from the recognized 
leaders of thought in Germany. 

The mission of Germany as to universal peace 

Baron von Stengel, Professor at Munich, who was 
one of the German delegates at the Hague Conference, 
accepting an invitation from the Anti-War League of 
Holland to give his opinion on the subject of a future 
peace conference, replied as follows : — 

It would be completely superfluous to say, because it is 
beyond all doubt, that the final and decisive victory must 
rest and will rest with Germany. Then we shall be in a posi- 
tion to restrain all the enemies of peace, and to win and 
maintain permanent peace; the only peace that will be 
assured, alike for ourselves and for all civilized humanity. 

297 



OBSTACLES TO PEACE 

The war has demonstrated, throughout its course, that we, 
the Germans, have been chosen by Providence, from among 
all earth's peoples, to put ourselves at the head of all civilized 
nations and guide them to a sure peace under our protection. 
For this we possess not only the necessary power and force, 
but also, in the highest degree, the intellectual gifts requisite, 
and we are the flower of the entire creation's Kultur. Con- 
sequently, it has been reserved for us to do what no nation 
hitherto has been able to do — to give all the world peace. 

From this it follows that it is useless to engage in any 
labors on behalf of peace, because we, the Germans, with 
our domination over our turbulent neighbors, shall assume 
also the duty of policing peace. We shall be in a position to 
destroy in the germ all hostility to peace. 

Subjection to our guardianship, which is in every sense 
superior to any other, is the sure and only road to prosperity 
for every nation, and especially for the neutrals. The best 
thing they can do is to unite voluntarily with us and rest on 
us. In these times, so difficult for those who are isolated, it is 
proper and prudent for them to unite themselves with one 
powerful head. To make one's self worthy of a powerful 
hereditary seigneur is to sow seed for the future. No people 
is richer in sentiment and in ideals than are we, the Ger- 
mans. Therefore, under our protection, all international law 
is perfectly superfluous; for, by our own natural instinct, 
we give each his own. 

Professor Rudolf Eucken, of the University of Jena, 
says : — 

To us more than to any other nation is entrusted the true 
structure of human existence; as an intellectual people we 
have, irrespective of creeds, worked for soul depth in reli- 
gion, for scientific thoroughness. . . . All this constitutes 
possessions the lack of which would make life and effort pur- 
poseless to mankind. 

This war is not only a struggle between certain nations, 
but also between certain forms of culture. We are fighting 
for the maintenance and spreading of the special form of 

298 



GERMAN THEORIES AND PRACTICE 

culture which our nature has implanted and the whole 
course of our history has developed in us. . . . 

Thus it is that we have raised religion, philosophy, edu- 
cation, music, and poetry to lofty heights. We have achieved 
such great things in the world because we put our soul into 
our work. Because we did not seek externals, but ourselves, 
in culture, it became for us a matter of deepest earnest. . . . 

Mankind at this point needs German methods. However 
much our opponents may rail against us just now, they will 
eventually be forced to make use of us for their spiritual 
preservation. 

Professor Ostwald, a Nobel prize-winner (as a chem- 
ist) and a well-known German scientist, says : — 

Germany, thanks to her genius for organization or social 
efficiency, has attained a stage of civilization far higher than 
that of all other peoples. This war will in the future compel 
these other peoples to participate, under the form of German 
social efficiency, in a civilization higher than their own. 
Among our enemies the Russians, in brief, are still in the 
period of the undisciplined tribe, while the French and the 
English have only attained the degree of cultural develop- 
ment which we ourselves left behind fifty years ago. Their 
stage of culture is that of individualism; but above that 
stage lies the stage of organization or social efficiency, and 
it is this stage which Germany has reached to-day. 

The Emperor Wilhelm II says : — 

The great ideals have become for us Germans a permanent 
possession, while other nations have more or less lost them. 
The German nation is now the only people left which is 
called upon in the first place to protect and cultivate and 
promote these great ideals. ... 

In the same spirit the Kaiser said in an address at 
Bremen : — 

God has called us to civilize the world: we are the mis- 
sionaries of human progress. 

299 



OBSTACLES TO PEACE 

Shortly afterwards, again : — 

The German people will be the block of granite on which 
our Lord will be able to elevate and achieve the civilization 
of the world. . . . 

Von der Goltz said : — 

We must understand, and make the youth of our genera- 
tion understand, that the time for repose has not yet come, 
that the prediction of a final struggle to assure the existence 
and the grandeur of Germany is not a mere fancy born in 
the minds of ambitious fools, but that it will come one day 
inevitably, violent and serious, as is every decisive struggle 
between peoples each of whom the one desire is to have its 
superiority over the others definitely recognized. 

Herr Loeber says : — 

All that is good and noble, all that is healthy and healing, 
in German fashion will after the war prove a blessing to 
other nations as well: German loyalty, German honesty, 
German conscientiousness, German sense of duty, German 
truthfulness, German earnestness, German cordiality, Ger- 
man industry, German perseverance. The world is com- 
pletely diseased. It may be that the Lord God will be 
pleased to use the German nation as physician to the suf- 
fering world. 

Dr. Lasson, Privy Councillor and Professor of Phi- 
losophy at the University of Berlin, in the early part 
of the war, wrote as follows : — 

We are morally and intellectually superior, beyond all 
comparison, as are our organizations and our institutions. 
Our army is the epitome of German intelligence and moral 
excellence; its perfect discipline is well known. 

We do good deeds to all people. Lou vain was not des- 
troyed; only the houses of the murderers. We Germans 
give our judgment only after an inquiry has taken place. 
The Cathedral of Rheims is not destroyed — the French 

300 



GERMAN THEORIES AND PRACTICE 

caused the damage. Germany has taught the world how 
to carry on war and politics in a conscientious and proper 
manner. England will come to nought. The real enemy is 
England. Woe unto thee, England! God is with us and 

the just cause. , 

Because we are efficient and morally superior, all those 
who cannot attain our moral strength are afraid of us, 
and think us dangerous. We are the freest people of the 
earth, for we obey, and our law is Reason. Our successes 
in war and peace are deserved, the price of infinite striving. 
Our Kaiser, our Chancellor, our leading men have nowhere 
their equals, like our people. Humaneness, gentleness, con- 
scientiousness, Christianity, are our distinguishing marks. 
"In a world of wickedness we represent the Love which is 
of Heaven, and God is with us." 

The German God according to war sermons 
A great many volumes of sermons have been pub- 
lished by distinguished preachers breathing the same 
spirit. I quote briefly. 

Dr. John Rump, of Berlin, in the course of a sermon 

said : — 

It is our duty to labor on in the German mission, which 
consists in revealing God more completely to men. We shall 
succeed in this, even were the world still fuller of the demon 
than it is. . . . By our domination over the world, which, as 
we hope, will be the exterior result of this war, God will 
establish his sovereignty among the other nations. By each 
victory which He sends us, He prepares for us the material 
means of accomplishing our mission to humanity. 

Walter Lehmann, pastor at Hamberge, in Holstein, 
in his collection of sermons published, with the Iron 
Cross, under the title of "The German God, 1915," 
says : — 

The German soul is the soul of God; she should rule over 
humanity, and she shall so rule. 

301 



OBSTACLES TO PEACE 

God, who is nothing else than the deepest, the most abso- 
lute, the most intimate principle of our soul, the purity and 
verity of our sentiments, the justice and the loyalty of our 
acts, the moral necessity of our struggle, this God which we 
only, the Germans, can have in this war, this German God 
is our best and deepest succor. 

The German God has come to life! 

III. The Inferiority of Other Nations 

With this sense of superiority in most fields of human 
endeavor, there grew a certain contempt for other peo- 
ples, and a sense of exasperation that inferior peoples 
should exclude Germany from her share of the earth's 
surface. 

From the extracts made from the introduction to the 
dispatches from the Belgian Ministers, one can get an 
exact idea of the views of the German Government as 
to England, for that introduction was issued by the 
German Foreign Office. 

. The general belief in Germany and Austria-Hun- 
gary is that England is in the last analysis guilty of 
this war. In a statement made to the Associated Press 
correspondent near Verdun, January 22, 1916, the 
German Crown Prince said: "We are convinced that 
the day will come when the people of Russia and 
France will find out that they are only doing the dirty 
work for England." 

The general feeling against England is expressed by 
Professor Meyer in these words : — 

Worst of all the things, however, which the war has 
brought to light, is the ruthlessness shown by England and 
the appalling decadence of English character. The world 
knew long ago how many lies and empty phrases were hid- 
den behind the English cloak of hypocrisy, how little the 

302 



GERMAN THEORIES AND PRACTICE 

Englishman cares about "fair play" when his own advan- 
tage is concerned; but no one had imagined the depths of 
immorality which the war has revealed. We have found that 
the English gentleman shrinks from no crime, not even 
murder, so long as he can preserve outward appearances. 

Professor Rohrbach, speaking of the Zeppelin raids, 
says : — 

If we can cover with fire a large enough territory in Eng- 
land so that the conflagration will strangle the breath of that 
nation and force it to stretch out its hands toward peace, we 
have a right to make use of that means. Mercy toward such 
an enemy is cruelty toward our own compatriots. It may be 
that after the war we will recall with a shudder the severe steps 
they have forced us to take; our reply will be: "It is not we 
who wanted this, but you yourselves!" 

Among the most influential of German publicists 
is Friedrich Naumann, author of "Central Europe." 
At the conclusion of a lecture that he recently deliv- 
ered in Vienna, he sketched the relations of England 
to Austria-Hungary, " which have been marked by the 
same selfish seeking after her own profit." " They talk 
of themselves as the Elect; they are not the Elect of 
God, but of the Devil." Addressing working men in 
his audience, he described England as the country 
where capitalism had celebrated its worst orgies. 
"The English national character is of no value to 
humanity, and is responsible for all the evil on earth." 

IV. Germany's Policies for Expansion and 
Methods to be employed 

Influenced by the situation of their country, com- 
bined with the feeling of absolute superiority over 
all other peoples, leaders of German thought pro- 
duced a mass of literature setting forth what Ger- 

303 



OBSTACLES TO PEACE 

many must have, and indicating the methods of 
achieving her aims. These ideas reacted on minds 
already persuaded of the great cultural mission of 
Germany to advance civilization. This was to be done 
in accordance with Germany's ideas and by a forceful 
method. 

I quote from the earlier writers who greatly influ- 
enced German opinion and German policy : — 

We must create a Central Europe which will guarantee the 
peace of the entire continent from the moment when it shall 
have driven the Russians from the Black Sea and the Slavs 
from the South, and shall have conquered large tracts to the 
east of our frontiers for German colonization. We cannot 
let loose ex abrupto the war which will create this Central 
Europe. All we can do is to accustom our people to the 
thought that this war must come. 1 

Let us bravely organize great forced migrations of the 
inferior peoples. Posterity will be grateful to us. Coercion 
will be necessary. Such tasks are also war-tasks. Superiority 
of creative power is but a means. . . . Those adversaries who 
succumb, as they try to bar our passage, must be driven into 
" reserves" where we shall keep them segregated that we 
may obtain the space necessary for our expansion. 2 

If we take, we must also keep. A foreign territory is not 
incorporated until the day when the rights of Germans are 
rooted in its soil. With all necessary prudence, but also with 
inflexible determination, a process of expropriation should 
be inaugurated, by which the Poles and the Alsatians and 
Lorrainers would be gradually transported to the interior 
of the Empire, while Germans would replace them on the 
frontiers. 3 

In 1911, Tannenberg — in "Gross Deutschland " — 
worked out the theories and plans for expansion in 
Europe. Dealing with Holland he says : — 

1 Paul de Lagarde, Deutsche Schriften (4th ed., 1903), p. 83. 

2 Klaus Wagner, Krieg (1906). 3 F. Lange, Reines Deutschtum. 

304 



GERMAN THEORIES AND PRACTICE 

Germany in 1870 had many reasons to act against Hol- 
land, since her King, if only through his intention of having 
Luxemburg obtained for Napoleon III, had been the imme- 
diate occasion for the war. The Francophile tendencies of 
King William III of Holland were at that time well known 
to all the powers; unfortunately the Minister Thorbeke suc- 
ceeded in hindering the King of Holland from openly taking 
the part of France, retarding thus the annexation of the 
Netherlands to Germany and preserving for a while longer 
their independence. It is a great pity that that opportunity 
should have been lost. If the inevitable had been realized 
at that time, the hardships inseparable from any transfor- 
mation would have been forgotten to-day, as it has hap- 
pened in the case of Hanover. 

Holland with her royal family, her European dominion 
and her colonies in South America, the Isles of the Sonde, 
and of Australasia, must come into the German Empire as 
a State of the " Bund." The same is true for Belgium. The 
Congo State must become a German colony. By the entry 
of Belgium into the German Empire the ancient German 
frontier near Lescaut, of the time of Charles V, would be 
reestablished. It would be the beginning of the reconstitu- 
tion of our ancient western frontier. We finished this matter 
with the French Republic and the Napoleons in 1871 ; with 
the kings of France, and in particular, with Louis XIV, we 
have not yet settled our accounts. The Continental tariff 
frontier of Germany in the West, next to the Netherlands, 
will thus be suppressed, and the ports on the Meuse and the 
Rhine will recover their former hinterland and will know a 
new prosperity. Luxemburg and Switzerland will enter like- 
wise into the new Empire, while preserving their actual con- 
stitution. But they will be obliged to furnish their contin- 
gent to the defense of the Empire which has already for a 
long time protected them, conformably to the necessities of 
Greater Germany. 

Frymann, in his book, "Wenn ich der Kaiser war!" 
says : — 

We shall, therefore, as soon as our antagonism with Eng- 

305 



OBSTACLES TO PEACE 

land and with France — or with a single one of these nations 
— shall give rise to an armed conflict, be obliged to put Hol- 
land and Belgium into the position of choosing between our 
adversaries and us. If, listening to the voice of reason, these 
two States decide in our favor, we will assure them their 
independence under the same title as that of the other con- 
federate States of the German Empire; if they go over to the 
enemy, we shall purely and simply annex them, all in antici- 
pation of the victory of the German armies. 

In the case of annexation, there would be incorporation 
with Prussia, in such a way that the two new provinces 
would know that we have not forgotten the lessons taught 
us by the resistance of the Danes, the Poles, and of the 
people of Alsace-Lorraine. Their colonies would be sub- 
mitted to the administration of the Empire, which, on the 
other hand, would support the expenses pertaining thereto. 
In this manner, the Belgian and Dutch colonies, which are 
much too large for small States, could be developed accord- 
ing to their value. If things should come to this pass, the 
mistakes of the Hapsburgs and of the Congress of Vienna 
at length would be retrieved, and the German people would 
have finally reconquered their ancient possessions on the 
shores of the North Sea. 

Tannenberg, writing in 1911, in anticipation of a 
war with France in the near future, defines the treaty 
of peace in these terms : — 

1. France cedes to Germany the departments of the 
Vosges with Epinal, Meurthe et Moselle with Nancy and 
Luneville, the eastern half of the Meuse with Verdun, and 
the Ardennes with Sedan; altogether about 17,114 kilo- 
metres. This country is at the present time sparsely popu- 
lated, 69 inhabitants to the kilometre. This is hardly half 
the density of population in Germany. This country of the 
high basins of the Meuse and the Moselle to be ceded to 
Germany counts only 1,192,453 inhabitants. 

2. France takes the inhabitants of these territories and 
installs them elsewhere. This migration shall be carried out 

306 



GERMAN THEORIES AND PRACTICE 

in the space of one year dating from the signature of the 
treaty of peace. The country will be divided into rural do- 
mains of forty to sixty arpents, according to its quality, and 
will be divided as a reward among German soldiers who 
shall have distinguished themselves during the war. The 
immovable properties of the cities shall be likewise distrib- 
uted in lots of approximately the same value. Soldiers who 
fought in the War of 1870-71 will also be admitted to this 
distribution. 

3. Holland with her royal house enters into the German 
Empire under the title of a confederate State in full exer- 
cise. Holland enters into a German tariff union (Zoll- 
verein) without paying indemnity, or engaging herself to 
special obligations, which constitutes a favor of special 
weight in all the affairs of this country especially in garden- 
ing and agriculture, which at the mouths of the Rhine profit 
by such happy climatological conditions. Java is reserved 
to Holland as a private colony. The other colonies of 
Insulinde, Surinam, and Oceanica, become the common 
property of the German Empire. We do not ask from Bel- 
gium any special advantage from the colonial point of view: 
on the contrary, we consider that a possession like the Congo 
State, much too large for that small country, must in its 
entirety pass under the power and the protection of the 
great German people and of the German Empire. 

4. France takes the Walloons inhabiting Belgium to colo- 
nize her territories, which are empty of inhabitants. The 
migration must be accomplished in three years. The prop- 
erty of the Walloons and of the inhabitants of the districts 
of the upper Moselle and of the upper Meuse, merged in the 
new province of Western Franconia, both in houses and in 
lands, will be estimated by experts and paid for to those 
having rightful tenure by the Republic, out of the indemnity 
of war to be paid by France to Germany. The frontier 
regions thus emptied along the middle course of the Meuse 
will receive an immigration of German soldiers who shall 
have distinguished themselves during the war, in such a 
manner that this frontier province will have within a few 
years a purely German population. The abnormal tariff 

307 



OBSTACLES TO PEACE 

frontier between the German Empire and its ports from the 
Meuse and on the Rhine will thus be suppressed. 

5. France cedes to Germany the ownership of the billions 
which she has lent to Russia. 

6. France pays to Greater Germany thirty-five billions 
of marks in cash. (This is half the liquid funds which France 
boasts of possessing. This loss will strike France in the 
spot where she is both most sensitive and most able to 
respond. Money has been since the end of the First Em- 
pire, the idol of the French and their overthrow. If France 
had not had more liquid money than any other people on 
earth, she would never have become the benevolent banker 
who imposes his loans upon our enemies. Let us take from 
France this accursed money and at last we shall have peace; 
we shall pursue our pacific development and be able to take 
very good care of ourselves without system-of -six-children.) 

7. France declares her acceptance of the incorporation of 
Luxemburg and of Switzerland in the German Empire. 

9. France renounces her fleet, which passes into the pos- 
session of the German Empire. 

10. France renounces her colonies, except Algeria, to the 
profit of Greater Germany. 

12. France signs the new treaty of commerce with Ger- 
many, which is adapted to the conditions created by the 
transfer of powers from one to the other. 

Such are the articles of the Peace of Brussels between 
Germany and France. They set the definitive seal of supe- 
riority upon the German people, rich in children, over 
France, poor in children. The course of armaments since 
the Treaty of Frankfort is concluded. 1 

Now, a short time later, Frymann, reviewing the 
recent book of Tannenberg, considered it as indeed "a 
little extravagant," but recognized that the more im- 
portant German reviews here and there expressed an- 
alogous ideas. So that it must be frankly admitted 
that they were in the air. And he adds : — 

1 Gross Deutschland, pp. 237-39. 
308 



GERMAN THEORIES AND PRACTICE 

Since we have touched, in passing, upon the " question of 
evacuations," let us say here that it is not perhaps so much 
out of place to speak openly on this point, in order that our 
adversaries may know clearly that such desperate measures 
already find defenders in Germany; they will understand 
then, that a certain prudence is absolutely imposed upon 
them, for it will not answer to excite too much the furor 
Teutonicus. 

To the man formed on traditional ideas, his hair will stand 
on end, at the demand that a country inhabited by Euro- 
peans should be evacuated, which signifies the violent inter- 
ruption of a development many centuries old; furthermore, 
this thought wounds the sentiments of the cultivated man, 
and it is in opposition to the modern theory of the rights of 
man which protect in their possessions the private citizens 
of belligerent nations. But if we look deeply into the par- 
ticular situation of the German people, which is completely 
encircled in Europe, and which, if it continues its vigorous 
growth, would run the risk of stifling unless it could give 
itself air, it must be clearly recognized that the case may 
present itself in which Germany shall have to require from 
her vanquished adversaries depopulated regions, either on 
the west or on the east, — unless, indeed, we have beyond 
the sea colonies to populate, or shall make up our minds to 
tolerate anew an emigration of Germans into foreign coun- 
tries. 

We must not think of an offensive war, for the purpose 
of the occupation of foreign territory, with their evacuation 
as our object; but we must, on the other hand, accustom 
ourselves to holding such measures admissible, as response 
to an enemy attack; while a war of brigandage (Raubkrieg) 
is repugnant to our conceptions, a punishment for a criminal 
aggression appears to us justified, even if it takes this 
severest form, for "necessity knows no law." We may, 
moreover, in this sense, consider as equivalent to a defen- 
sive war any war which should be conducted offensively 
from the German side, but which we should have been 
obliged to undertake to anticipate our enemies. 1 
1 Wenn ich der Kaiser war I pp. 140-41. 
309 



OBSTACLES TO PEACE 

The treatment of conquered people is thus described 
by K. F. Wolff, a distinguished ethnographer : — 

Conquerors are acting according to the laws of biology 
and logic when they endeavor to do away with foreign lan- 
guage and to annihilate foreign nationality. Hence there 
must be no compromise, but merely insistence upon the 
right of sovereignty, the widest possible extension of power 
and the sternest refusal of political rights. 

The constitution is made for the conqueror, never for the 
conquered. Let the conquered enjoy the rights of man, but 
under no pretext the rights of sovereignty. We are born 
men, we win the position of lords and masters on the field 
of battle. 

Referring to France he says : — 

The conquering nation must be rich in men, so that it 
may be able to flood the conquered country with its own 
people. Hence only nations with large populations have a 
moral right to conquest; for it is unjust that such a nation 
should be overcrowded within its frontiers, while a neigh- 
boring people with fewer citizens should live luxuriously on 
richer territory. It is still more unjust, it is really criminal, 
that a nation with a decreasing birth-rate should take pos- 
session of foreign countries with the sole and unworthy 
object of recruiting soldiers whom it needs for the realization 
of its selfish schemes. 1 

He deals with the ethics of conquest in these 
words : — 

The conqueror must have an absolute will to dominate, 
and must strive for the political and ethnical annihilation of 
the vanquished. He must entirely ignore the fallacy that 

1 From the Kolnische Zeitung: "For the last hundred years there has 
been no progress in any branch of French industry." 

From Paul Rohrbach (Der deutsche Gedanke in der Welt) : "As for France: 
'Her destiny, for reasons which, in spite of all proffered explanations, 
remain among the enigmas presiding over the birth and death of peoples, 
seems to be that she must disappear from the list of great nations.' " 

310 



GERMAN THEORIES AND PRACTICE 

the vanquished have the right to maintain their language 
and nationality. A victorious people, invading a country, 
must insist upon its privileges in the most ruthless manner; 
it will commit no injustice in doing so, it will merely derive 
the natural consequences of its position. 

Such men as this can conquer, they are allowed to con- 
quer, it is their duty to conquer. They must be suzerain, 
both for their own advantage and that of others. For inva- 
sion by a noble, high-minded race does not mean annihila- 
tion but amelioration, it is in the service of the Lord of 
armies, and his work is a work of deliverance ! 

Dealing with these small nations, Herr Rohrbach 
writes : — 

In comparison with former days the realm of science is 
now so stupendous that only a great nation is capable of 
coping with it. German students outside our frontiers, the 
Dutch, and our more distant kinsmen, the Scandinavians, 
are all obliged to form a kind of fraternity with German 
science, both in order to rear scholars and to facilitate their 
researches; they are too few in number to be able to produce 
first-rate scientific work or institutions in all branches. . . . 
This also applies to other spheres. Just in the same way that 
small States cannot build a fleet of modern Dreadnoughts, 
because they would be ruined by the cost of one, so they are 
incapable of producing a complete civilization from base to 
apex because it requires too broad a foundation. 

Tannenberg elaborates the policy of the new and 
greater German Empire : — 

We wish in a new Empire to begin a new life whose 
supreme law is the welfare of the Germans, and to execute 
this law shall be the principal task of Greater Germany. All 
special laws are only corollaries to this fundamental law. 

The Reichstag of Greater Germany is elected by universal 
suffrage. The rights of the electors may be acquired by 
every married man of thirty. The right to vote is conferred 
upon all those who are admitted to the rights of full citizen- 

311 



OBSTACLES TO PEACE 

ship. Only those can become full citizens whose mother- 
tongue is German, whose culture is the object of the common 
school, whose blood is purely German, and who take the 
civil oath. The rights of full citizenship may be withdrawn 
by the court for transactions, words, or acts contrary to the 
interests of Germanism. 

Books, newspapers, periodicals, and circulars can appear 
only in German. Books coming from outside can be imported 
only with the authority of the State and for a revenue stamp 
of one hundred per cent ad valorem. Foreign newspapers 
must obtain the same authorization, pay the same tax, and 
bear the same stamp. The State has the right to requisition 
gratuitously from each newspaper the first page of the chief 
edition to expose to the people the views of the Government 
without party interpretation. . . . 

In greater Germany no foreigner can acquire houses or 
estates, etc. 1 

We can note the partial working-out of these ideas 
in the deportations from Belgium and Lille and other 
parts of occupied France, and also in the spoliation of 
Poland. 

V. The Belgian Deportations 

Great distress to her inhabitants was the natural 
result of the stripping of Belgium, so well described by 
Dr. Rathenau and Dr. Ganghofer. Just as in Poland, 
everything was done to increase the wealth of Ger- 
many and to compel the Belgian workmen to emigrate 
to Germany. But the Belgians proved stubborn. 
They refused to assist Germany to win the war against 
their own brothers, and there was no voluntary emi- 
gration on their part. 

The "Kolnische Zeitung" makes the following 
admission : — 

1 Gross Deutschland, pp. 82-83. 
312 



GERMAN THEORIES AND PRACTICE 

The spirit of the Belgian people is invincible; the meager 
results we have obtained by violence in Alsace in forty-five 
years will not be won in Belgium in less than a hundred. 

And that in spite of terrible suffering and misery, 
while they saw their food being used to support their 
enemies. Professor Ballod states that Belgium and 
northern France fed three million German soldiers the 
first year. 

Although the Hague Conventions agreed to by 
Germany stipulate that "the maintenance of the civil 
population of an occupied territory must be exactly 
what its own Government would have done, and that 
mainly out of the natural resources of the territory 
itself," and further, that "requisitions can only be 
demanded, and services imposed on the communes and 
their inhabitants generally for the needs of the occupy- 
ing army," in January, 1915, it was decided that "the 
resources of the subjected country should be devoted 
to the use of the German Army, and also of the indus- 
tries assigned to its service." Dr. Ganghofer, an inti- 
mate friend of the Kaiser's, studied the Belgian situa- 
tion in February, 1915, and his report concludes that 
"all the financial resources of the territories we have 
conquered have been swallowed up, and secured for our 
benefit." 

On May 2, 1916, the German authorities assumed 
the exclusive right to provide work for the unem- 
ployed. Any person who gave work to an unemployed 
man, without the sanction of the German authorities, 
would be punished with a fine of five thousand dollars 
and three years imprisonment. All appeal to the 
courts was denied. On May 13, 1916, this order was 
issued : — 

313 



OBSTACLES TO PEACE 

Authorized governors, military commandants, and chiefs 
of districts to order the unemployed to be removed by force 
to the places where they are to work. 

In the "Contemporary Review" for January, 1917, 
Demetrius C. Boulger states: — 

Since that appeal the deportations of the able-bodied male 
population have been carried out on a wholesale scale. It is 
computed that at the moment of writing they reach a total 
of 350,000 persons, but it seems probable that before they 
cease this total will be doubled. Already a further number 
of 50,000 from Brussels alone have been deported. In some 
places, notably in Limburg, all the males from fifteen to 
fifty-five have been removed, and in the Hasselt district, for 
some obscure reason, girls possessing sewing-machines have 
also been carried off with them. Soon, very soon, there will 
not be left in Belgium any but women, children, and old 
men. It would have been a mercy, it would have revealed 
some slight trace of human compassion, to have deported 
them to the same place as their husbands and sons. But 
that is not the German way. 

There is one voice from Belgium that has reached 
all hearts not blinded by ignorance, and that is the 
voice of Cardinal Mercier. Among the heroes of this 
war he holds an honorable place. This is his appeal to 
the neutral world : — 

Cardinal Mercier *s protest against the deportation of Belgians 

The military authorities are daily deporting thousands of 
inoffensive citizens in order to set them to forced labor. 

As early as October 19, we sent a protest to the Governor- 
General, a copy of which was also sent to the representa- 
tives in Brussels of the Holy See, Spain, the United States, 
and the Netherlands. The Governor-General, in reply, 
refused to take any steps. 

At that time the ordinances threatened only unemployed 

314 



GERMAN THEORIES AND PRACTICE 

men. To-day all able-bodied men are carried off pell-mell, 
penned up in trucks, and deported to unknown destinations, 
like slave gangs. 

The enemy proceeds by regions. Vague reports have 
reached us that arrests have been made successively at 
Tournai, Ghent, and Alost, but we are unaware of the cir- 
cumstances. 

Between October 24 and the beginning of November the 
enemy operated in the regions of Mons, Quievrain, St. Ghis- 
lain, and Jemappes, from 800 to 1200 men being rounded up 
daily. To-morrow and the following days he intends to fall 
on the Nivelles Arrondissement. 

A poster orders all males to present themselves at Nivelles 
on November 8, provided with identification and registra- 
tion cards. They are permitted to bring only a small hand- 
bag. Clergymen, doctors, barristers, and schoolmasters are 
exempt. Burgomasters are held responsible for the execution 
of the order. There is an interval of twenty -four hours be- 
tween the posting of the order and deportation. 

Under the pretext of the necessity to carry out public 
works on Belgian soil, the occupying power had tried to 
obtain from the communes lists of unemployed workmen, 
which the majority of the communes proudly refused to 
give. 

Three decrees of the Governor-General paved the way for 
the blow which was struck us to-day. The first, issued August 
15, 1915, ordered forced labor for the unemployed under pain 
of imprisonment and a fine, but stated that it was only a 
question of work in Belgium. The second, issued May 2, 
gives the German authorities the right to provide work for 
the unemployed, any unauthorized person giving work being 
liable to three years' imprisonment and a fine of twenty 
thousand marks. The third decree, issued May 13, author- 
ized the governors and military commanders to issue or- 
ders for the unemployed to be forcibly taken to places for 
work. 

It was already a matter of forced labor for Belgium. To- 
day it is no longer a question of forced labor in Belgium, but 
in Germany for the Germans' benefit. 

315 



OBSTACLES TO PEACE 

The whole truth is that each deported workman means 
another soldier for the German Army. He will take the 
place of a German workman, who will be made a soldier. 

The situation which we denounce to the civilized world 
may be summed up as follows: Four hundred thousand 
workmen are reduced to unemployment through no fault of 
their own, and largely inconvenience the German occupa- 
tion. Sons, husbands, fathers, respectful of public order, 
bow to their unhappy lot. With their most pressing needs 
provided for, they await with dignity the end of their 
period of trial. 

Now, suddenly, parties of soldiers begin to enter by force 
these peaceful homes, tearing youth from parent, husband 
from wife, father from children. They bar with the bayo- 
net the door through which wives and mothers wish to 
pass to say farewell to those departing. They herd their 
captives in groups of tens and twenties and push them into 
cars. As soon as the train is filled the officer in charge 
brusquely waves the signal for departure. Thus thousands 
of Belgians are being reduced to slavery. 

The Germans are not only enrolling the unemployed, but 
they are also recruiting a great number of men who have 
never been out of work. 

A special appeal to the most powerful neutral coun- 
try comes from the Holland section of the League of 
Neutral Nations. 

To America from Holland: — 

To us this cruelty is more vivid every day. Every day 
numbers of fugitives, in spite of the deadly electric wire 
which the Germans have erected along the frontier, succeed 
in escaping to the Netherlands. From them we learn the 
painful details of the unutterable despair of the women and 
children who are left behind and of the agonizing scenes 
which take place when husbands, brothers, and sons, 
dragged from their homes and women-folk, are packed into 
cattle and freight cars and thus transported to an unknown 
destination and to an unknown fate. 

316 






GERMAN THEORIES AND PRACTICE 

Mr. Alfred Noyes makes an eloquent and moving 
appeal in the "Outlook" for January 24, 1917. His 
material is at first hand, and I make from it some ex- 
tracts : — 

In the slave trains they are treated worse than cattle. 
Sixty men are crammed into a wagon for forty. The wagons 
are open to wind and rain, and no food, or very little, is 
provided. Yet as these trains of slaves (who can never be 
slaves while life remains to them) roll into the stranger's 
land, the silent crowds who watch them hear the thunder of 
their national songs; hear a nobler music than all the art of 
Germany could ever produce; hear these prisoners, that are 
kings, chanting the "Brabagonne" and "The Lion of 
Flanders." 

" We used to think that music crude,*' said a Belgian to 
me recently, "but we cannot hear it now without tears." 

Apres des siecles d'esclavage, 
Le Beige sortant du tombeau 
A reconquis par son courage 
Son nom, ses droits, et son drapeau; 
Et ta main, souveraine et fibre, 
Peuple, desormais indompte, 
Grava sur ta vieille banniere 
Le Roi, la Loi, la LibertS. 

And what a symphony is there, transcending anything 
that the imagination of Beethoven conceived! There, over 
the sobs and cries of the women and children, with the mut- 
ter of the redeeming guns already upon the horizon, rises 
that mighty chorus, as the trains move out with their tri- 
umphing loads of white slaves,; and circumstances have 
added a little to that song: — 

They never shall tame him to slavery, 

The proud Lion of Flanders, 
Their fetters may menace his freedom, 

Yet shall his freedom endure. 
They never shall tame him to slavery, 

The proud Lion of Flanders, 
So long as the claws of the Lion 

Can strike, and one Fleming draws breath. 

317 



OBSTACLES TO PEACE 

Time makes a havoc of cities. 

Thrones may perish like snow. 
Armies are hurled to destruction. 

The people, the people shall live. 
Our enemies come in their harness. 

With the shadow of death they surround us. 
We laugh, we laugh at their fury. 

The Lion of Flanders is here. 

Woe to the foe in his folly 

Who comes with his heart full of treason, 
Feigns to caress the old Lion, 

And then lifts his hand up to strike. 
Ay, when they think he is dying, 

And spurn him, and mock at his weakness, 
The Lion of Flanders arises 

And lifts the slow wrath of his name. 

They never shall tame him to slavery, 
The proud Lion of Flanders . . . 

The New York "Evening Post" for February 3, 
1917, publishes a letter from its Paris correspondent, 
giving some first-hand knowledge of the deportations 
from Belgium and France. The writer, Mr. Stoddard 
Dewey, is one of the most careful and trustworthy 
correspondents in Europe. I have known him for 
many years. He writes: — 

Cardinal Mercier's latest words tell us what is happening 
in Belgium and Northern France. Cardinal Mercier says : — 

I have seen hundreds of my flock in danger and tears. 
For three days, Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, November 
20, 21, and 22, morning and evening, I went through 
the regions where the first workmen and artisans of 
my diocese were taken away by force into exile. At 
Wavre, Court St. Etienne, Nivelles, Tubize, Braine- 
PAlleud, I entered more than a hundred homes half 
empty. The husband was away, the children were 
orphaned, the sisters were seated with dull eyes and 
lifeless arms at the sewing-machine — all was in mourn- 

318 



GERMAN THEORIES AND PRACTICE 

ful silence. You would have said there was a corpse in 
the house. Scarcely did I speak a word of sympathy to 
the mother than sobs broke forth and lamenting and 
words of anger, with proud outbursts. The remem- 
brance of these heart-rending scenes never leaves me. 

A private letter of Cardinal Mercier, which reached us 
here in Paris last week, adds: — 

Pray for dear Belgium, suffering as she never suffered 
before. These hateful deportations, this unpeopling of 
our homes, the anguish of those spared until now, have 
brought about a general state of depression which we 
had not known till now. Souls are inhabited by grief 
and terror and hatred. 

A few, said to have been deported "by mistake," 
have come back. They say the treatment they have 
had to undergo is beyond all we can imagine — hunger, 
cold, exhaustion, so calculated on that the world can be 
informed only those "voluntarily" out of work have 
been taken. We are all of us imprisoned here, but if 
neutrals knew the treatment of us, I believe they would 
not limit themselves to verbal protests — otherwise we 
should have to despair of fraternal charity and human- 
ity. . . . We remain steadfast. We wish only a peace 
signed with honor, lasting and restoring. 

Before giving the incidents of the deportations — inci- 
dents which have been furnished me at first hand, and, for 
the most part, officially — I translate literally words from 
an official letter addressed by Lieutenant-General Hurt, 
Military Governor of Brussels and Brabant, to the burgo- 
masters of his district. The letter is dated November 12, 
and was published in the German organ at Brussels, "La 
Belgique," on the 17th: — 

I insist on this fact that workmen, once they have 
been transported into Germany, will be able to return 
to Belgium only in exceptional cases of extreme 
urgency or justified by reasons beyond dispute. 

319 



OBSTACLES TO PEACE 

Such a letter is a necessary comment on nearly all that 
follows. 

The panic-terror into which the Belgian population has 
been thrown may be imagined from information of the lat- 
ter half of December concerning the state of things along 
the Holland frontier. North of Antwerp the Dutch villages 
have been invaded by hundreds of fugitives who have man- 
aged to get out of Belgium. " They sleep in all the barns and 
on the farm floors. At night there is not one bundle of straw 
available." (December 17.) A letter received in London 
says, about the same time, that some of the deported con r 
trived to drop out of the trains while still in Belgium and 
get to the Dutch frontier. This so exasperated the German 
authorities that they posted the following notice in the com- 
munes of Gemmenich, Monzen, and others : — 

It is forbidden to give shelter to any Belgian civilian 
who is between fifteen and twenty years of age. It is 
compulsory to denounce any such civilian to the Ger- 
man police. Those who transgress this order are liable 
to the penalty of death. 

A correspondence from known sources gives these details 
of the manner in which the deportation is begun : — 

In a little village near Diest an officer and forty sol- 
diers of the Landsturm arrived. Sentinels with loaded 
guns were posted at each end of the village street. Then 
the other soldiers searched in all the houses and tore 
away from their homes all able-bodied men, whether 
they were out of work or not. In a little while they had 
gathered one hundred and fifty in the village square. 
The officer called his men together, and the slaves were 
led off along the highway to Diest. You can imagine 
how painful it was. Women and children were in tears, 
and the men were trying to kiss their dear ones a last 
time. It was abominable, and the officer was joyful, for 
one hundred and fifty men as the result of such a raid 
'[was remarkable. And this is how Lieutenant von Bis- 
sing came back to Diest, swelling and rejoicing. 

320 



GERMAN THEORIES AND PRACTICE 

I have been unable to learn if this warlike lieutenant is 
anything to Governor-General von Bissing, who, it is just 
announced, will leave Belgium, his day's work done. Around 
Brussels, but not yet in the capital, these razzias — veritable 
slave-drives — began in December at Woluwe St. fitienne. 
At the same time they were carried on around Namur and 
through the Belgian province of Luxemburg. At Arlon, in 
the latter province, most of the National Aid and Food 
Committee, who have had charge of distributing American 
provisions, have been carried off. The details are edify- 
ing. 

At two o'clock of Tuesday, November 28, red posters 
summoned all the men of the town indiscriminately, from 
seventeen to fifty-five years of age, to come to the building 
which had been the Jesuits' Novitiate at eight o'clock 
Thursday morning. Of those who answered the summons 
four hundred were chosen out, not one of them being with- 
out work at home. The excuse for these deportations has 
been that Belgians were eating their heads off in idleness. 
More than half of the four hundred were employees, mer- 
chants' sons, middle-class people, between eighteen and 
thirty years of age. The rest were workmen of every kind. 
Besides these four hundred, a number of railway workers 
were taken and kept by themselves during five days, and 
subjected to alternate promises and threats to induce them 
to work for the German military authorities. 

Among the four hundred there were forty -three members 
of the Food Committee; the director for the whole region, 
a man of forty; the secretary-general, of about the same age, 
and nearly all those actively employed, even to the type- 
writer of nineteen. Those who kept the provision depots 
(American supplies, for the most part) and the managers of 
the distribution in six neighboring communes, including 
chauffeurs, carmen, and laborers, were all taken. It is hard 
to see how this part of Belgium is now to obtain a sufficient 
distribution of food. Of the foregoing, I have been given 
the names and employments. As I write, information which 
I have not yet been able to verify comes to hand that, in one 
such center, an immense quantity of American provisions 

321 



OBSTACLES TO PEACE 

was left without keepers and has been carted off by the Ger- 
man authorities. 

At Dour, a little place in Hainaut, one hundred and thirty- 
seven men were carried off to Germany, of whom one hun- 
dred and seventeen were actually taken by force from their 
work. Of twenty others deported as workmen out of work, 
not one was yet seventeen years old — and four of them 
were students at school. In the single locality of Andennes, 
province of Namur, seven hundred and sixty men of every 
condition of life were carried off. The women followed the 
German soldiers, spitting at them in their despair — and 
the soldiers seemed ashamed of what they were doing "by 
superior order." 

The Belgian Syndicalist Committee, in the name of both 
Socialists and Independents, declared to Governor-General 
von Bissing: — 

Citizens of a modern state, without having infringed 
regulations or decrees, are thus condemned in mass to 
forced labor. 

The Municipal Council of Brussels added : — 

It is certain that the labor which is to be imposed on 
our countrymen has for its exclusive aim to fortify 
Germany economically, and even militarily. This cir- 
cumstance shows still more clearly the character of 
slavery and servitude with which the measure threatens 
our citizens. 

So far I have spoken only of men. I do not dare to publish 
details furnished me of the deportation of women — medical 
examinations, such as soldiers are subjected to, which for 
the daughters of invaded Belgium and France are but the 
beginning of unspeakable evil. 

The following "appeal of the women of France to the 
women of all countries" has been issued: — 

Among the solemn protests which the whole world is 
raising against the deportations, French women wish 
that their voices should be heard. 

322 



GERMAN THEORIES AND PRACTICE 

How can they help trembling with indignation as 
they learn that, under the German yoke, there disap- 
pears all respect for the family and its ties? They learn 
that women of France, of Belgium and Servia, and 
others still have been or are to be torn cruelly from their 
husbands and children whenever the invader needs 
them for the service of his officers or mills or trenches. 

Among all the enemy's crimes, not one so chokes with 
anxiety the heart of woman. Is it not round the woman 
that every civilization has grouped the family? Is it 
not the long patience of woman that, through the cen- 
turies, has defended the intimacy of home, the weak- 
ness of childhood, the morality of youth? 

This is why we invite women — all women — to join 
in our protest. All are enlightened, not one can be ignor- 
ant of international laws slowly wrought out for the 
safeguard of non-combatants — and none can be ignor- 
ant that, by the very avowal of those who are respon- 
sible, such laws have been trampled under foot. 

The stirring protests of the highest political, social, 
and religious authorities have been unable to stop 
these brutal dispersions. The criminal governments 
pursue them, counting on the fear or apathy of the 
peoples. 

Are they to have the support of women's silence? 
Shall women forget that the respect of another's right 
is the surest guarantee of our own right and that — 
should history in its returns expose to like dangers other 
generations and other peoples — they and their daugh- 
ters could lift up their voices neither to complain nor 
in malediction? 

To whatever country she may belong — ally, neutral, 
or enemy — each woman must acknowledge her respon- 
sibility. To be silent is to absolve the soldiers who vio- 
late homes and arrest passers-by to choose their victims 
— it is to become their accomplice. To be silent is for- 
ever to renounce all appeal to right and treaties, all 
demand that to private or public action there shall be 
given the authority of a moral foundation. 

323 



OBSTACLES TO PEACE 

Who is the woman that will refuse to hear our appeal 
and judge savagery? 

Let all those whose home is respected unite in one 
movement of justice and compassion. From the height 
of their anguish and sorrow, our sisters, victims of 
force, can now hope for help only from the conscience 
of the world. 

(Signed) National Council of French Women (150 
societies); French Union for Woman's Suffrage 
(80 regional groups) ; Society for the Improvement 
of Women's Lot; Fraternal Union of Women; 
Society of Women's Suffrage (representing alto- 
gether more than 1,000,000 French women). 

I quote here the opinion of ex-Secretary Root, one 
of the greatest men who ever filled the office of Secre- 
tary of State of the United States. Mr. Root said at 
Carnegie Hall, Friday, December 15, 1916: — 

I am glad to join my voice to-night with my fellows in 
this free land in condemnation and protest upon this new 
outrage that is visited on the sore and bleeding Belgians. 

Poor Belgium — her stern and noble resolve to keep the 
faith was her only crime, and she has been punished as if 
her people were the vilest on earth. Her towns have been 
burned, her noble and stately monuments have been leveled 
to the earth, her women and children and old men have been 
murdered, her country has been brought under the sway of 
a foreign invader, and now she has been bled white by vast 
exactions of money and of produce. Every effort for her to 
revive her industries has been denied, and now, because she 
has suffered thus, her men are to be carried away to forced 
labor as slaves. 

Let me read the effective words of that great-hearted and 
noble prelate, whose figure, appealing to all that is best in 
humanity throughout the world, fearless of the mighty 
power that seeks to constrain him, will make the name of 
Cardinal Mercier great in history. Let me read from his 
pathetic appeal : — 

324 



GERMAN THEORIES AND PRACTICE 

We, the shepherds of these sheep who are torn from 
us by brutal force, full of anguish at the thought of the 
moral and religious isolation in which they are about to 
languish, impotent at once of the grief and terror in the 
numerous homes shattered or threatened, appeal to all 
souls, believers or unbelievers, in Allied countries, in 
neutral countries, and even in enemy countries, who 
have a respect for human dignity. May Divine Provi- 
dence deign to inspire all who have any authority, all who 
are masters of speech or pen, to rally round our hum- 
ble Belgian flag for the abolition of European slavery. 



VI. The Spoliation of Poland 

The spoliation of Poland followed similar lines to the 
spoliation of the territory in France occupied by the 
German armies, and the system of requisitions in 
Belgium. The coal-mines of Dombrova were shut 
down, the machines and shafts destroyed, to favor the 
Silesian coal-fields across the Prussian frontier. Manu- 
facturing towns like Dombrova, Lodz, and Sosnovitse, 
that competed with German industry, were stripped. 

A million people were idle and on the verge of star- 
vation. The Germans harvested the crops, invading 
Poland with all kinds of German machines, motor- 
lorries, and machines for digging up potatoes, and they 
dug and threshed and transported through the au- 
tumn of 1914. The foodstuffs around Lodz were mobil- 
ized most effectively by this German organization. 
Only, when they were collected, the Imperial German 
Government commandeered all. The motor-lorries 
spirited them away into Germany, while Lodz and 
Dombrova continued to starve. 

A German company was formed and given an abso- 
lute monopoly in trading in foodstuffs in Poland 

325 



OBSTACLES TO PEACE 

generally. Farm produce was purchased, when not 
commandeered at a low rate, and sold at a high rate, 
and the company was able to declare a profit of one 
hundred and forty per cent. An embargo was put on 
all stores of grain and potatoes, ordering that after 
fifty-four pounds had been left to each inhabitant the 
remainder must be handed over to the German com- 
pany. So profitable was this food monopoly that other 
articles were brought under the same regime. A War- 
Potato Company was formed in Berlin to requisition 
the potatoes in Poland for the alcohol refineries in 
Germany. This alcohol was reimported into Poland, 
while the Polish refineries were kept idle. A coal 
monopoly was also established, and the price of coal 
doubled. 

Just as in Belgium, all kinds of important ma- 
chinery were taken, including parts that are very 
difficult to replace. Then raw materials, oil, leather, 
sulphur, iron, wool, cotton. These stores were sold to 
German manufacturers at low prices. If the German 
authorities were trying to destroy Polish industry, 
they used the right methods. 

Here is a quotation from the "Nowa Reforma" of 
November 20, 1914, which explains the operations of 
the Posen "Import Company Ltd." : — 

A communication from Lodz, dated November 18, de- 
scribes the unfathomable distress of the city. Prices are 
higher than the highest known anywhere else. According to 
the "Nowy Kuryer Lodzki": — 

At a sitting of the Town Council of Lodz Mr. Win- 
nicki, a town councillor of Polish nationality, raised the 
question why the German " Import Company," which 
has been invested by the German Government with the 



GERMAN THEORIES AND PRACTICE 

monopoly of buying grain for Russian Poland, pays 
seven and a half roubles for one hundred weight of rye, 
when it buys it in the districts of Russian Poland under 
German occupation, but charges at Lodz twenty-three 
roubles for a bag of war-flour which contains hardly 
forty per cent of the one hundred weight of rye. In 
answer to Mr. Winnicki's question the senior burgo- 
master, Herr Schoppen, answered that an injustice is 
certainly done to the inhabitants of Lodz, but that he 
could do nothing to lower the prices, since the prices 
at which the "Import Company Ltd." bought the 
grain in Russian Poland, as well as the prices it charged 
for grain at Lodz and elsewhere, had been fixed by 
Field-Marshal von Hindenburg, supreme commander 
in the East, and could not, therefore, be modified by 
the town administration. 

The scarcity of fuel in Lodz is equally the fault of 
the " Import Company Ltd." The town requires about 
one hundred and fifty railway trucks of coal a day, and 
has to import it by way of Germany instead of getting 
it straight from the Polish coal-fields. This city of half 
a million inhabitants has no stores of fuel, and if the 
railway communication is interrupted it may be left 
destitute of fuel altogether, especially as the forests 
round Lodz have been cut down during the war. 

On July 1, 1915, a final order was published "for 
securing the grain in the districts of Poland situated on 
the left bank of the Vistula and remaining under Ger- 
man administration, for the needs of the German 
Army, the German market, and of the population 
inhabiting the occupied territory." 

The "Nowa Reforma" of October 7, 1915, is author- 
ity for the statement that the Central Committee of 
Warsaw was suddenly dissolved; upon this Committee 
depended all the Citizens' Relief Committees which at 
that time were achieving notable results : — 

327 



OBSTACLES TO PEACE 

It was a center to 220 Provincial Committees. It had 
under its care 17 hospitals, more than 200 tea-houses, 300 
to 400 schools and homes for children, and some 40 or 50 
cheap restaurants. It also had at its disposal 17 wholesale 
stores with a working capital amounting to about £400,000. 
It took special care of hygiene and poor relief. 

Amid the disorganization caused by the war, the Com- 
mittee at Warsaw was the one institution which successfully 
organized relief for the population and to a large extent alle- 
viated the condition of the poor. Moreover, the dissolution 
of the Central Committee at Warsaw involved a simultane- 
ous dissolution of the Provincial Committees, and that in 
turn caused the suspension of the district committees and of 
all cooperative institutions which remained under their 
direction. All relief action came to a stop. 

Here is an exact estimate of the havoc wrought by this 
master-stroke of German organization in Poland (furnished 
in a statement compiled, in authoritative Polish quarters, 
during December, 1915) : — 

The closing of the Committee resulted in the closing 
of the following institutions : • — 

1. About two hundred Citizens' Committees in the 
Government of Warsaw. 

2. About two hundred wholesale provision shops of 
the Committee. The turn-over of the wholesale estab- 
lishment of the Committee, from December to June, 
was 1,500,000 roubles. 

3. Three hundred schools for small children. 

4. All public educational institutions (libraries, peo- 
ple's halls, etc.) and the civic guard (special constables). 
Eleven inspectorates of this guard were dissolved, 
whereby about 6000 special constables were prevented 
from doing their duty and the Government of Warsaw 
left without any police protection. 

5. 100 centers of food-distribution. 

6. A refugee bureau which helped about 8000 people. 

7. The valuation of losses caused by the destruction 
of estates and villages was also stopped. This step is 

328 



GERMAN THEORIES AND PRACTICE 

favorable to the Russian Government, which, on the 
basis of the valuations of the Central Citizens' Com- 
mittee, has already paid 7,000,000 roubles compensation. 

8. The sanitary activity was stopped. About 20 
hospitals and 30 dispensaries had to close their doors. 
Vaccination of the inhabitants had to be stopped, also 
the sanitary inspection of shops and goods, hospital 
buildings, baths and wells. 

9. About 150 tea-houses and places for distributing 
hot water had to close. 

10. All the district councils in the whole Government 
were closed. 

11. The rebuilding of the destroyed villages and 
towns, on which the Central Citizens' Committee had 
spent hundreds of thousands of roubles, was stopped. 

12. Every district council had a cooperative shop, 
which had to be closed after the dissolution of these 
councils. 

In consequence of this action of the German Government 
a total disorganization resulted, and the German authorities 
were absolutely unable to cope with the situation. 

The German authorities [writes a Polish correspondent] 
are doing everything in their power to induce workmen to 
leave for Germany. They almost force them to go. The 
workmen, however, are not willing to leave the country, and 
the majority of them go to work on the land. 

The reasons for this policy of spoliation were first to 
add to the resources of Germany, and then, as a result 
of the distress, to induce workmen to go to Germany. 

Here is a description of conditions at Lodz, pub- 
lished by the "Journal de Geneve" on December 1, 
1915: — 

According to the special correspondent of the "Journal de 
Geneve," the condition of Lodz goes from bad to worse. 
The two chief evils, as was to be expected, are lack of em- 

329 






OBSTACLES TO PEACE 

ployment and exorbitantly high prices. As for the former, 
the factories are now working only three days in the week, 
the raw material having been mostly requisitioned by Ger- 
many. At first the invaders did everything they could to 
persuade the artisans to emigrate to Germany, which is at 
present short of labor. But, when it was found that only a 
few thousand yielded to persuasion, the President of Police 
issued a proclamation (end of September) in which, after 
announcing that the factories would soon be altogether 
closed and that no relief would be distributed during the 
winter from any source, he offered navvy work on the repair 
of the roads and bridges, work which it was known would 
employ only a limited number, and that only for a short 
time, as the sole alternative to emigration. That is the 
dilemma which the artisans now have to face. 

This leads to the question of prices. 

The German authorities have commandeered all provi- 
sions. Wheat may now be sold only by the Goods Importa- 
tion Company, which buys it up cheap from the peasants and 
sells the resultant flour (war-flour) at exorbitant prices to 
the townspeople, who find their bread " simply uneatable," 
as well as ten per cent above the price to which they were 
accustomed. The same company has the monopoly of sugar 
and alcohol. " Huge quantities" of pulse and oatmeal have 
been exported to Germany, and their price at Lodz has gone 
up fourfold. The present scheme for exporting to Germany 
twelve to fifteen million quintals of potatoes will cause a 
similar rise in what is now " almost the only resource left to 
the poor." Almost all the cattle have already been exported, 
and the price of meat, which for some months has been quite 
beyond the reach of the artisans, has gone up 400 to 500 per 
cent. Even the handfuls of bread, meat, and flour, which 
the artisans who have taken work in the fields bring back 
with them, are confiscated at the city gates, on the plea of 
contraband. 

The following account gives further information as 
to the situation in Lodz. The "Lodzianin," the Social- 
Democratic newspaper in the town, says : — 

330 



GERMAN THEORIES AND PRACTICE 

There are about 60,000 householders in Lodz. Every one 
of them is entitled to a coal-card, and as only 150 of these are 
issued a day (which makes 4500 a month), the rest are likely 
to remain without fuel for the winter. The cold favors the 
development of tuberculosis. Last year we had forty per 
cent mortality from tuberculosis, although conditions then 
were much better than can be hoped for this winter. The 
manufacturers have been told to give support only to those 
workmen who have been employed by them for no less than 
fifteen years; that practically means the old people who are 
not fit to go to work in Prussia. The German administra- 
tion is assisted in promoting emigration by the municipal 
authorities, though it is said that there are Poles, too, on 
the Town Council. The Town Committee for the poor relief 
helps only those who bring certificates from the German La- 
bor Exchange to the effect that they are not fit to work 
in Germany. 

We raise a solemn protest, in the name of the Polish labor- 
ing classes, to all the more enlightened elements of the Ger- 
man nation, and to German Socialists in particular. The 
present condition of things is reducing the Polish proletariat 
to mental and physical exhaustion. 

That was the last cry of despair before the winter 
descended upon Lodz like a shroud. 

Here are a few sentences from a statement drawn up, 
in authoritative Polish quarters, as recently as Janu- 
ary, 1916: — 

On May 22, 1915, all textile mills in Lodz were shut and 
all stock of raw materials, as well as part of the machinery, 
were confiscated. The same thing happened a little later in 
Warsaw and Sosnovitse. . . . 

The working-people are starving. Hundreds of people are 
dying from a new illness caused by the lack of food. . . . 
The majority of infants have died, and the death-rate is now 
much higher than the birth-rate. 



331 



OBSTACLES TO PEACE 

That is a bare summary of what has occurred; but 
the agony of Lodz is revealed in detail in the narrative 
of a visitor to the city, which was published in the 
"Nowa Reforma," not long ago: — 

Wishing to acquaint myself with the misery in the factory 
towns and to consider means of relief, I went to Lodz. What 
I found surpassed my most awful fears. The population is 
slowly dying, after exhausting its forces in a hopeless strug- 
gle. 

All the factories at Lodz are closed, but some of the rich 
manufacturers are nobly supporting their employees. They 
give them a rouble (2s.) a week. The poor creatures, who 
have been subsisting many months now on that pittance 
alone, are growing anaemic and consumptive; but they are 
rich in comparison with the families to which the Town 
Committee allows 40 kopecks (lOd.) for each adult and 6d. 
for every child. 

We see here the German theories of requisition ex- 
emplified as explained by Von Hartmann who says : — 

The system of requisitions goes indefinitely beyond the 
simple right to collect provisions in the country where war is 
carried on. It implies the full exploitation of that country 
in all respects, and whatever the assistance which one is able 
to promise one's self from it for the army operating there, 
whether to facilitate and advance its actions, or whether to 
promote its endurance and insure its safety. 

This implies, be it noted, that military necessities must not 
establish any distinction between public and private property 
and that the army claims the right to take what it requires 
everywhere and in such a manner as it can appropriate it. 

And to this statement Field Marshal von Hinden- 
burg subscribes in a recent interview : — 

The country is suffering. Lodz is stricken with famine. 
That is deplorable* but it is good. One does not carry on a 

332 



GERMAN THEORIES AND PRACTICE 

war upon sentimental principles. The more pitilessly war 
is carried on, the more humane it is at bottom; for so much 
the sooner will it be finished. The methods of war, which 
bring about peace with the greatest speed, are and remain 
the most humane methods. 

From the "Dziennik Poznanski" (a Polish paper 
published at Posen) : — 

The petition of the Warsaw industrialists for setting the 
factories at work again was met by a categorical refusal on 
the part of Besseler [the German Governor], who declared 
that anybody could find employment in Germany, whence 
Polish working-men had already sent to Lodz savings to the 
amount of 40,000 marks ! ! ! 

VII. The Deportations from Lille 

I first heard of the deportations from Lille from a 
gentleman from Luxemburg who came to London to 
see what could be done in regard to the five daughters, 
from fourteen to twenty-two years of age, of a profes- 
sor at Lille. These girls had been taken from home and 
at the end of a month nothing had been heard from 
them. 

Afterwards the French Government published a re- 
port of these events from which I make extracts : — 

Note of the Government of the French Republic on the conduct 
of the German authorities toward the population of the 
French Departments occupied by the enemy. 

On several occasions the Government of the Republic has 
had occasion to bring to the notice of neutral powers the 
action of the German military authorites toward the popu- 
lation of the French territory temporarily occupied by them, 
as being in conflict with treaty rights. 

The Government of the Republic finds itself to-day obliged 
to lay before foreign Governments documents which will 

333 



OBSTACLES TO PEACE 

establish that our enemies have put in force measures still 
more inconsistent with humanity. 

By order of General von Graevenitz, and with the support 
of Infantry Regiment No. 64, detailed for the purpose by the 
German General Headquarters, about 25,000 French — con- 
sisting of girls between sixteen and twenty years of age, 
young women, and men up to the age of fifty-five, without 
regard to social position — were torn from their homes at 
Roubaix, Tourcoing, and Lille, separated ruthlessly from 
their families, and compelled to do agricultural work in the 
Departments of the Aisne and the Ardennes. 

Proclamation by the German authorities 

All the inhabitants of the house, with the exception of 
children under fourteen and their mothers, and of the 
aged, must prepare themselves to be transported within 
an hour and a half. 

An officer will decide definitely what persons are to be 
taken to the concentration camps. For this purpose, 
all the inhabitants of the house must assemble in front 
of the house; in case of bad weather they are to remain 
in the passage. The door of the house must remain 
open. No protest will be listened to. No inhabitant 
of the house (even including those who are not to be 
transported) may leave it before 8 a.m. (German time). 
Any person endeavoring to avoid transportation will 
be punished without mercy. 

The Commandant 

Protest of the Mayor of Lille 

This document, as also the one which follows, has been 
communicated to the French Government, which is in pos- 
session of confirmatory evidence in regard to it from sev- 
eral different sources. 

Monsieur le Gouverneur, — 

Being still convalescent from illness and confined to 
the house, I hear, with inexpressible emotion, intelli- 

334 



GERMAN THEORIES AND PRACTICE 

gence which I still wish to be able to discredit. I am 
informed that the German authority entertains the 
intention of deporting a considerable portion of our 
population, and of removing them to other parts of the 
occupied territory. . . . 

To destroy and break up families, to tear peaceable 
citizens by thousands from their homes, to force them 
to leave their property without protection, constitutes 
an act of a nature to arouse general indignation. 

Protest of Monseigneur Charost, Bishop of Lille 

Monsieur le General, — 

Numerous removals of women and girls, certain trans- 
fers of men and youths, and even of children, have been 
carried out in the districts of Tourcoing and Roubaix 
without judicial procedure or trial. 

The unfortunate people have been sent to unknown 
places. Measures equally extreme and on a larger scale 
are contemplated at Lille. . . . That mission lays on me 
the burden of defending, with respect but with courage, 
the Law of Nations, which the law of war must never 
infringe, and that eternal morality, whose rules nothing 
can suspend. It makes it my duty to protect the feeble 
and unarmed, who are as my family to me and whose 
burdens and sorrows are mine. 

Thus to dismember the family, by tearing youths and 
girls from their homes, is not war; it is for us torture and 
the worst of tortures — unlimited moral torture. . . . 
Morality is exposed to perils, the mere idea of which 
revolts every honest man, from the promiscuity which 
inevitably accompanies removals en masse, involving 
mixture of the sexes, or, at all events, of persons of very 
unequal moral standing. Young girls of irreproachable 
life, who have never committed any worse offense than 
that of trying to pick up some bread or a few potatoes 
to feed a numerous family, and who have, besides, paid 
the light penalty for such trespass, have been carried 
off. . . . Their mothers are now alone. They bring to 

335 



OBSTACLES TO PEACE 

me their despair and their anguish. I am speaking of 
what I have seen and heard. . . . We have suffered 
much for the last twenty months, but no stroke of for- 
tune could be comparable to this; it would be as unde- 
served as it is cruel and would produce in all France 
an indelible impression. 

Lille, April 30, 1916. 

My dear E , 

What I have to tell you is so sad and so long that I have 
not the heart to write it twice. Will you read this letter and 

then pass it on to M , for her to send round and finally 

keep in her own hands. 

My dear M , 

The last three weeks, and especially the last week, we 
have spent in the most terrible anguish and moral torture 
possible for a mother's heart. On the pretext of difficulties 
caused by England in the matter of provisions and of the 
refusal of the men out of work to volunteer for work in the 
fields, the Germans have embarked on a forcible evacuation 
of the population, with an inconceivable refinement of cru- 
elty. They did not proceed as on the first occasion by whole 
families; no, community of suffering they thought would be 
too easy for us, and so they took one, two, three, four, or 
five members from each family — men, women, youths, 
children of fifteen, girls, any one — whoever was chosen, 
quite arbitrarily, by an officer. And to prolong the agony 
for us all, they operated by districts, without even giving 
notice in which district they would operate each night; for 
it was at dawn, at three in the morning, that these heroes, 
with a band, and machine guns and fixed bayonets, would go 
and hunt out women and children and take them away. . . . 

This is the end of this long and miserable story, but I 
have not been able to depict the terrible suffering of those 
whose homes have thus been decimated. Many will die of 
it. As Monseigneur said, it is the passion of our families 
added to the passion of Christ. One woman sweated blood 
on seeing her young son taken; he was brought back to her, 

336 



GERMAN THEORIES AND PRACTICE 

but she did not recognize him. It is terrible and our position 
seems to be very critical. 

Letter from M. X. at Lille, to M. V., at Paris 

We have seen our streets invaded in the middle of the 
night by hordes of soldiers, with fixed bayonets and machine 
guns (how shameful!), tearing young girls of all ages and 
lads of fourteen from their mothers' arms, without pity for 
these mothers, who, on their knees, implored their conquer- 
ors for mercy; and all these unfortunate creatures, massed 
indiscriminately with the dregs of the population, packed 
into commandeered trams, were sent off like troops of slaves 
to an unknown destination. What impotent hatred is bred 
in our hearts for the moment, but later what responsibility 
must be borne by the higher German authorities, from the 
private to the general! Tell all this to our son. 

Letter from X. at Lille, dated May 7, 1916, and addressed to 
Madame B at Paris 

Horrible affair at Lille, tell it everywhere; the deportation 
of 6000 women and 6000 men; for eight nights, at two in the 
morning, districts invested by the 64th Regiment (spread it 
in France that it comes from Verdun), forcibly dragged off 
girls of eighteen and women up to forty-two; 2000 a night. 
Herded in a factory; sorted out during the day and carried 
off in the evening; scattered from Seclin to Sedan in aban- 
doned villages, farms, etc.; to cook and wash for soldiers, 
replacing orderlies sent to the front; working on the land, 
especially servants and working-girls, few girls of good 
family. 

Letter to M. Poincare 

These girls and lads were taken in trams to factories, 
where they were numbered and labeled like cattle and 
grouped to form convoys. In these factories they remained 
twelve, twenty-four, or thirty-six hours until a train was 
ready to remove them. . . . 

The families so scattered are in despair and the morale of 

337 



OBSTACLES TO PEACE 

the whole population is gravely affected. Boys of fourteen, 
schoolboys in knickerbockers, young girls of fifteen and six- 
teen have been carried off, and the despairing protests of 
their parents failed to touch the hearts of the German 
officers, or rather, executioners. . . . 

Sufferings in Northern France 

Mile. L , aged twenty-six, brickmaker, deported from 

S (Aisne) : — 

About 300 of us were shut up in a school in the town; 
we were forbidden to leave the building. Reveille was 
sounded at five a.m., and we worked till seven p.m. The 
work was done in gangs. 

The women who refused to work or who declared they 
could work only after having enough to eat (the food 
was very bad and very scanty) were beaten either with 
great cat-o'-nine-tails or kicked, or a large jug of water 
was thrown over them and they were beaten after- 
wards. 

VIII. The German State of Mind 

Many forces, ideas, and circumstances must be 
taken into account in order to understand the facts 
which have just been set forth. 

First, there is the feeling of superiority on the part 
of the Germans; secondly, the belief that Germany has 
a divine mission to uplift civilization; thirdly, the 
conviction that the Germans are unfairly shut out 
from sufficient territory in which to grow and prosper; 
fourthly, that this war was maliciously plotted by her 
enemies, of whom England was the chief conspirator 
and criminal; fifthly, that the more terribly war is 
waged, the shorter it will be, hence resulting, on the 
whole, in less loss of life and less suffering. 

Further, the German people believe that their 

338 



GERMAN THEORIES AND PRACTICE 

government and army in no way offend against the 
laws of humanity or international law. 

Nevertheless, no single fact connected with this war 
stands out more clearly than that Germany has many 
times outraged the public opinion of the world, and 
has done things which have been not only of almost 
no value to herself, but have undoubtedly caused her 
enormous disadvantages. 

The introduction of poisonous gases greatly in- 
creased the resolution against her of her enemies, espe- 
cially the Canadians. 

Then again, how could any people, long before war, 
devise apparatus to throw burning liquids on their 
enemies? When one faces this method of warfare it 
seems equivalent to inflicting capital punishment by 
burning the prisoner at the stake rather than by using 
the electric chair. 

Here is a copy of an order concerning the use of 
flame projectors and burning liquids: — 



Headquarters 
Saint-Quentin, October 16, 19H. 

Second Army, Note 32. 

Engineers : — General Notice 

Attack on fortified positions. 

Means at the disposal of the Engineers for fighting at close 
quarters. 

Flame projectors and burning liquids. 

These will be placed at the disposal of the Army Corps 
according to their requirements by the Commander-in- 
Chief. The Corps will at the same time receive the skilled 
operators indispensable for working these engines, who will 
be reinforced, after giving the necessary instruction, by en- 
gineers of the companies chosen for this service. 

339 



OBSTACLES TO PEACE 

Flame projectors are to be used by engineers specially 
trained to handle them; they are objects resembling a port- 
able fire extinguisher and eject a liquid which at once ignites 
spontaneously. The waves of flame have an effective range 
of twenty square metres. Their deadly effect is instantane- 
ous, and they throw back the enemy to a considerable dis- 
tance by means of the great heat they generate. As they 
burn for a period of from one and a half to two minutes, and 
may be arrested at will, operators are advised to produce 
short isolated flames, so that they may be able to attack at 
several points with a single supply of the liquid. Flame pro- 
jectors are to be used chiefly in street-fighting, and are to be 
kept in readiness at the point whence an attack by storming 
starts. 

The use of burning liquids greatly embittered the 
soldiers of the Allies, and increased their determina- 
tion to go to ultimate victory. 

I always heard the Turkish soldiers well spoken 
of in England. General Ian Hamilton, the English 
Commander-in-Chief at Gallipoli, told me that al- 
though the Turks had the liquid fire apparatus, they 
did not use it. 

Again, the needless destruction of great works of 
architecture, — as for example, the Cathedral at 
RJheims, which had stood, untouched, through all the 
wars of seven hundred years, — and the destruction 
of priceless creations of art and architecture in all the 
occupied territory, have served no helpful purpose for 
Germany, and have added to the mass of hatred and 
contempt against her. 

Major-General von Disfurth (retired), in an article 
contributed to the Hamburg "Nachrichten," writes as 
follows : — 

Germany stands the supreme arbiter of her own methods. 
It is of no consequence whatever if all the monuments ever 

340 



GERMAN THEORIES AND PRACTICE 

created, all the pictures ever painted, all the buildings ever 
erected by the great architects of the world be destroyed, 
if by their destruction we promoted Germany's victory. 
War is war. The ugliest stone placed to mark the burial 
of a German grenadier is a more glorious monument than 
all the cathedrals of Europe put together. They call us 
"barbarians." What of it? We scorn them and their 
abuse. 

For my part, I hope that in this war we have merited the 
title, "barbarians." Let neutral peoples and our enemies 
cease their empty chatter, which may well be compared to 
the twitter of birds. Let them cease to talk of the Cathedral 
of Rheims, and of all the churches and all the castles in 
France which have shared its fate. Our troops must achieve 
victory. What else matters? 

The execution of Captain Fryatt is another illus- 
tration of the mistaken methods of Germany. The 
English people are slow. No ordinary world-issues 
would have so unified the English nation and aroused 
her working-men to a resolution to fight as did this 
single act. War to-day can be waged only by a highly 
organized industrial nation, and with the support of 
the whole body of workmen in industry. At almost no 
cost to England, Germany performed the miracle of 
arousing the English working-men, by such deeds as 
the bombardment of Scarborough, the Zeppelin raids, 
the sinking of the Lusitania, the execution of Edith 
Cavell. 

It is doubtful, however, if any of these things so 
hardened English determination as the execution of 
Captain Fryatt. I was often told, in Germany, of 
Captain Fryatt's crime, always with great indignation. 
The submarine captain who sunk the Lusitania was 
a hero, Captain Fryatt was a criminal. If Captain 
Turner of the Lusitania had been able to save his ship 

341 



OBSTACLES TO PEACE 

by ramming the submarine, he would have been exe- 
cuted by the Germans if he had afterwards been cap- 
tured. His execution would have been legal — in 
accordance with laws made in Germany, but recog- 
nized by no other nation. 

The deportations of the Belgians, the deportations 
of the French from Lille and from other places in 
France, the policy of terrorism and requisition prac- 
ticed in France, Belgium, and Poland, also the theories 
and plans of requisition of goods and territory, openly 
published by influential Germans — all these things 
have tremendously affected the peoples at war against 
Germany. 

I was in France at the time of the publication of the 
reports describing the deportations from Lille. France 
was filled with horror and anguish, and with a deter- 
mination to go on until the possibility of such things 
ever happening again would be removed forever. 
France feels that above all nations she is sacrificing life 
and estate to save civilization from being devoured by 
a monster. Germany seems to France to be a Frank- 
enstein, with tremendous strength, utterly unmoral, 
and at the same time utterly wicked. 

The state of mind produced in France and England 
by such things as are here adduced constitutes one of 
the great obstacles to peace. 

War is the great revealer. It strips men of all unreal- 
ities and hypocrisies. We see men naked. We are able 
to evaluate social, industrial, and educational systems. 
The methods and practices of Germany in conducting 
this war must have thrown light on her psychology. 
What, then, is the dominating note in German thought 
and action as revealed by the war? Is it not her invar- 

342 



GERMAN THEORIES AND PRACTICE 

iable reliance on force and terrorism to accomplish her 

aims? 

Let us consider for a moment the probable origin of 
the German idea in regard to the efficacy of force and 
repressive measures. The bottom fact in the national 
structure of Germany is military discipline. Now, 
military discipline is largely discipline from the out- 
side. It is imposed discipline, often imposed by force. 
This idea of making people efficient by force colors all 
their theories of industry, social organization, govern- 
ment, war, rule over other peoples, methods of diplo- 
macy with other nations. Even in the social and in- 
dustrial structure of Germany there is a tremendous 
tendency toward the infiltration of the military prin- 
ciples of discipline. This tendency is inevitable. Under 
this system the individual is restrained by external 

forces. 

Real discipline, on the other hand, must come from 
within. Liberty is the first condition of real discipline 
— the liberty of the individual up to the limits where 
his liberty interferes with the liberty of others. 

Long before this war Mr. Root said to me once: 
"The great problem in government is to get efficiency 
without sacrificing democracy." 

When the ordinary restraints of civilization were 
removed from the military forces of Germany in Bel- 
gium, their inner powers of inhibition were too feeble 
to put a limit to the orders, plans, and policies of the 
German officials. 

The revelations of this war make us question the 
superiority claimed for the German theories of social, 
industrial, and military organization. 

The democratic movement of the age was hindered 

343 



OBSTACLES TO PEACE 

in Prussia by the very critical situation of the nation, 
surrounded by strong enemies. War, sometimes defen- 
sive, sometimes aggressive, was the most important 
influence in moulding the principles and institutions 
of the German people. The present forms and prin- 
ciples of organization in Germany are the inevitable 
products of the conditions under which the German 
Empire was formed. 

This war is to determine whether the principles of 
individual liberty or mass organization are to dom- 
inate the world. It is to determine whether the indi- 
vidual is made for the State, or the State for the in- 
dividual. 

IX. Mass Psychology 
The new danger to civilization 

We are accustomed to exhibitions of mob psychol- 
ogy in which the acts of a few hundreds or of a few 
thousands shock the world. But in this war we must 
take into account the psychology of a mass which 
contains all the people of a nation, or even of a group 
of nations. 

In the world to-day the number and variety of the 
ideas and factors in life require a vast amount of co- 
ordinated activity and thought. In all countries there 
are numerous organizations, — governments, armies, 
navies, schools, trades-unions, farmers' unions, etc. 
There are also industries that require the coordinated 
knowledge and activity of many people with varied and 
various skill. The means of travel and transportation, 
like railroads; the means for the transmission of in- 
telligence, the telegraph, the telephone, also unify a 
people. But the principal organ of unification is the 

344 



GERMAN THEORIES AND PRACTICE 

printing-press, with its product of books, pamphlets, 
periodicals, and newspapers. 

With all this machinery of unification, plus univer- 
sal military training, the leaders of thought and action 
in Germany have organized and carried on a propa- 
ganda for more than a generation. Such men as 
Treitschke, Rohrbach, Schiemann, Reventlow, Tan- 
nenberg, Naumann, and hundreds of others, have 
preached the doctrine of German superiority, expan- 
sion, needs, and rights. I have quoted from such 
sources. At the same time, the Great General Staff 
have realized in preparation and in act the ideas that 
had already become the thought of the entire nation. 

The writings of Bernhardi have been belittled in 
Germany, but one can only say that his ideas have all 
been realized. 

Professor Schiemann speaks with unusual authority, 
and he says about Bernhardi, in a pamphlet in which 
he answers "J'Accuse": — 

The brave books of Bernhardi, with a clear prevision of 
what was in preparation, pointed out the necessity of grasp- 
ing the sword before the conspiracy which threatened Ger- 
many should become active. That was the more his perfect 
right since the threat of war, particularly on the part of 
England and Russia, had, as we shall see, for years never let 
up. His writings — in so far as they were not of a purely 
military character — were inopportune and unwelcome to 
the Government, since it foresaw the misuse to which they 
could be put by the evilly inclined. To-day it is unlikely 
that any one will deny that Bernhardi saw and judged the 
situation correctly. 

Treitschke was also a true prophet of modern Ger- 
many. And to understand the German mind of to-day 
one must read his books. 

345 



OBSTACLES TO PEACE 

The solidarity of German feeling is expressed in the 
"Hymn of Hate" in these words: — 

You we will hate with a lasting hate, 
We will never forego our hate, 
Hate of seventy millions choking down. 
We love as one, we hate as one, 
We have one foe and one alone — 

England! 

All Germany — all the seventy millions — think as 
one, hate as one, love as one. The "Hymn of Hate" 
was part of the General Order issued to his troops on 
November 11, 1914, by the Bavarian Crown Prince. 

Now, let us apply this state of mind, this mass psy- 
chology, to a study of the treatment of Belgium* Every- 
thing habitually done by the most cruel and insensate 
mob we find repeated in Belgium, even to burning 
people alive. In fact, in this war, the mass spirit illus- 
trates itself from the North Sea to Bagdad by the use of 
fire to destroy life. The liquid-fire apparatus invented 
by the German military authorities carbonizes its 
victims in a few minutes. The wholesale and con- 
tinued cruelties inflicted on the Belgian people can be 
paralleled only by instances in which mobs have had 
full sway. 

The professors and publicists of Germany thought 
in abstractions ; but the execution of their theories in- 
volved men and women and children, homes, farms and 
food, life and liberty, and the sanctity of the family. 
The Great General Staff put into concrete form the 
theories of the professors. 

If German inventions could enable her military 
forces to release a poison gas in such quantities and 
under such conditions as to destroy all the armies op- 

346 



GERMAN THEORIES AND PRACTICE 

posed to Germany, all German people would approve. 
If a means were devised by them to destroy by fire 
all the armies opposed to Germany, all the German 
people would approve. If Germany's submarines sunk 
every ship at sea, and drowned every sailor and every 
passenger, all the German people would approve. 
Neither the German Government nor the German 
people have disapproved the sinking of the Lusitania. 

When I spoke to my friend, Professor von Schultze- 
Gavernitz, in Constantinople, about the sufferings of 
the Armenians, he said, "It is thirteenth-century war." 
Professor Gavernitz is one of the gentlest and kindest 
men I ever met, but to him that abstract phrase simply 
covered the whole Armenian tragedy, and dulled his 
mind to it. He did not realize that his words meant the 
destruction of modern civilization. It is thirteenth- 
century war that is now waged from the North Sea to 
the Persian Gulf. It is thirteenth-century war with 
twentieth-century inventions, and in a twentieth- 
century world that has endeavored by laws and agree- 
ments to shelter the weak and defenseless from the 
powerful and cruel. 

It was my experience, everywhere in Germany, 
Austria-Hungary, and Turkey, in meeting all manner 
of people, in military, political, and social circles, to 
find them gentle, considerate, and sane, devoted to 
their families and exhibiting noble sentiments in every 
relation of life. The German people, however, refuse to 
see disagreeable things naked. Everything that is 
printed in Germany is in line with their preconcep- 
tions. They have an absolute credulity for all that 
their authorities tell them, and absolute incredulity 
for everything said by the other belligerents or by 

347 



OBSTACLES TO PEACE 

neutrals. It is this state of mind that is blind to Ar- 
menia, that approves of the military acts in Belgium, 
that is swayed by the military authorities, that is 
called militarism in England and in France. 

The prevalence and validity of ideas of conquest, 
of spoliation, of deportation will be greatly strength- 
ened if Germany wins the war, or if the war is a stale- 
mate. To England and France this is a war, not only 
for human freedom, but for the mere right to exist. 

The present expression of mass psychology in war 
brings another and an appalling thought, that the very 
machinery of modern civilization easily becomes the 
instrument for bringing about such a condition of suf- 
fering and oppression as we now see in Europe. The 
inventions and discoveries that make modern civiliza- 
tion, render possible the creation of a state of mind that 
will cause a nation or union of nations to threaten the 
very basis of human liberty. 

When Germany wickedly fell upon Belgium, she, at 
one blow, wrecked the whole structure of law. 

Elihu Root, who spoke with the authority of a great 
international lawyer, and with the reticence and sense 
of responsibility of a former Secretary of State, in 
his address in Carnegie Hall, December, 15, 1916, 
said : — 

^ Now, I say this law is our law; it is our protection. The 
rights of man, peace and humanity, cannot be preserved 
upon impulse alone. Law governing men in the treatment 
of the weak and defenseless is necessary; and so for years, 
for centuries, the nations have been building up a code of 
law, international law, and that law is the protection — the 
enforcement of that law, respect for that law, obedience to 
that law, are the protection of our peaceable people, of all 

348 



GERMAN THEORIES AND PRACTICE 

weak and small nations, of all those that do not wish to be 
armed to the teeth every moment for their own protection. 

That standard is now beaten down, it is destroyed, it is 
set at naught. And if we remain silent, if the great neutral 
peoples of the world remain silent, the standard is gone 
forever. 

And, mark this, the new standard, or rather, the return 
to the old standard, of barbarism will not stop with the poor 
people of Belgium. It will be here! Not perhaps for you 
and me, but for our children it will be here. 

If the civilized world of the twentieth century is willing to 
stand silent and see these things done, in cumulative pro- 
gression, in violation of the laws of humanity and of nations, 
then the civilization of the twentieth century is worse than 
the savagery of Roman times. 

I could not remain silent. I should not respect myself if I 
remained silent, and I hope, I trust, I pray, that my country 
will not remain silent. 

Explain it as you may, excuse it as you may, disguise it 
as you may, the people of Belgium by the tens and hundreds 
of thousands are being carried away into slavery — a thing 
that has not been done by any nation that claimed to be 
civilized in modern history. 

Mr. Root does not shirk our responsibility. He 
says : — 

America cannot choose at will. We have made professions, 
we have assumed an attitude, we have taken upon ourselves 
responsibility, we have declared ourselves the champions of 
freedom. Ah ! Remember, across the half -century, the words 
of Lincoln: "Fourscore and seven years ago our Fathers 
brought forth upon this Continent a new nation conceived 
in liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are 
created equal." 

One cannot be an American, with the history of America, 
without responsibility, and that responsibility confronts the 
people of our country to-day to protect the spirit of Ameri- 
can freedom. 

349 



OBSTACLES TO PEACE 

"Once to every man and nation comes the moment to decide 
In the strife of Truth with Falsehood, for the good or evil side. 
Some great cause, God's new Messiah, offering each the bloom or 

blight, 
Parts the goats upon the left hand, and the sheep upon the right, 
And the choice goes by forever 'twixt that darkness and that 

light." l 

As I am finishing this chapter there come to hand 
two illustrations of German psychology that the 
American people can easily understand. 

I refer first to the proposal of the German Govern- 
ment to align Mexico and Japan against the United 
States. Secondly to the charge of Dr. Zimmermann, 
Foreign Minister of Germany, that the United States 
endeavored to form a coalition of American Republics 
against Germany. 

Think of the childish fatuity of the suggestion that 
Mexico, with German aid, at a time when Germany 
is absolutely blockaded, should set out to dismember 
the United States! This brings to mind the French 
belief that the German mind has a child's outlook on 
international affairs. 

Further, let us consider the state of mind of the 
German Government to think that a people with the 
high sense of honor of the Japanese should suddenly 
treat a solemn pact as a scrap of paper! 

But the most illuminating revelation is the charge 
by Dr. Zimmermann expressed in these words : — 

And if we really, as the report alleges, considered the 
possibility of a hostile act by the United States against us, 
then we really had reasons to do so. 

An Argentine newspaper which printed a story a short 
time ago really revealed the plot in telling that the United 

1 Lowell, The Present Crisis. 
350 



GERMAN THEORIES AND PRACTICE 

States last year suggested to the other American republics 
common action against Germany and her allies. 

This plot was apparently not conditional in the least. 
The news as published by the newspaper "La Prensa" well 
agreed with the interpretation given, for instance, by the 
American newspaper man Edward Price Bell, London 
correspondent, who said that the United States was only 
waiting for the proper moment in order to opportunely 
assist the Entente. 

The same American stated that Americans from the be- 
ginning of the war really participated in it by putting the 
immense resources of the United States at the Entente's 
disposal and that the Americans had not declared war 
only because they felt sure that assistance by friendly neu- 
trality would be during that time much more efficient for 
the Entente than direct participation in the war. 

Whether this American newspaper man reported the fact 
exactly we were at a loss to judge in satisfactory fashion, 
since we were more or less completely cut off from real com- 
munication with the United States. 

But there were other facts which seemed to confirm this 
and similar assurances. Everybody knows these facts and 
I need not repeat them. 

Dr. Zimmermann's assertion and the proofs he al- 
leges are of exactly the same character as the German 
charges and proofs against Belgium, and the claim 
that England was really guilty of causing this war. 

All Germany to-day believes that the United States 
endeavored to form a warlike coalition against Ger- 
many. The revelations that have so startled and 
shocked the American people throw a clear light on 
all the controverted questions I discuss in this book. 



CHAPTER XVI 

ALLEGED ATROCITIES IN FRANCE 

The records of the alleged atrocities by German 
officers and German soldiers in France are more ter- 
rible than the similar records of atrocities in Belgium. 
The material in the hands of the French Government 
convinces the people absolutely of the truth of the 
charges. The main body of records was secured from 
the regions temporarily occupied by the German 
armies before the battle of the Marne. I quote from 
the French "Official Report on German Atrocities " : — 

Having been instructed to investigate atrocities said to 
have been committed by the Germans in portions of French 
territory which had been occupied by them, a commission 
composed of four representatives of the French Govern- 
ment repaired to these districts in order to make a tho- 
rough investigation. The commission was composed of M. 
Georges Payelle, First President of the Cour des Comptes; 
Armand Mollard, Minister Plenipotentiary; Georges Ma- 
ringer, Counselor of State; and Edmond Paillot, Counselor 
of the Cour de Cassation. 

^ They started on their mission late in September last and 
visited the Departments of Seine-et-Marne, Marne, Meuse, 
Meurthe-et-Moselle, Oise, and Aisne. According to the 
report, they made note only of those accusations against 
the invaders which were backed up by reliable testimony 
and discarded everything that might have been occasioned 
by the exigencies of war. 

In truth it can be stated that never has a war carried 
on between civilized nations assumed the savage and fero- 
cious character of the one which at this moment is being 

352 



ALLEGED ATROCITIES IN FRANCE 

waged on our soil by an implacable adversary. Pillage, rape, 
arson, and murder are the common practice of our enemies; 
and the facts which have been revealed to us day by day 
at once constitute definite crimes against common rights, 
punished by the codes of every country with the most se- 
vere and the most dishonoring penalties, and which prove 
an astonishing degeneration in German habits of thought 
since 1870. 

Crimes against women and young girls have been of ap- 
palling frequency. We have proved a great number of them, 
but they only represent an infinitesimal proportion of those 
which we could have taken up. Owing to a sense of decency, 
which is deserving of every respect, the victims of these 
hateful acts usually refuse to disclose them. Doubtless 
fewer would have been committed if the leaders of an army 
whose discipline is most rigorous had taken any trouble to 
prevent them; yet, strictly speaking, they can only be con- 
sidered as the individual and spontaneous acts of uncaged 
beasts. But with regard to arson, theft, and murder the 
case is very different; the officers, even those of the high- 
est station, will bear before humanity the overwhelming re- 
sponsibility for these crimes. 

In the greater part of the places where we carried on 
our inquiry we came to the conclusion that the German 
Army constantly professes the most complete contempt for 
human life, that its soldiers, and even its officers, do not 
hesitate to finish off the wounded, that they kill without 
pity the inoffensive inhabitants of the territories which 
they have invaded, and they do not spare in their murder- 
ous rage women, old men, or children. The wholesale shoot- 
ings at Luneville, Gerbeviller, Nomeny, and Senlis are ter- 
rible examples of this; and in the course of this report you 
will read the story of scenes of carnage in which officers 
themselves have not been ashamed to take part. 

On the 6th of September at Champguyon, Mme. Louvet 
was present at the martyrdom of her husband. She saw 
him in the hands of ten or fifteen soldiers, who were beating 
him to death before his own house, and ran up and kissed 
him through the bars of the gate. She was brutally pushed 

353 



OBSTACLES TO PEACE 

back and fell, while the murderers dragged along the un- 
happy man covered with blood, begging them to spare his 
life and protesting that he had done nothing to be treated 
thus. He was finished off at the end of the village. When 
his wife found his body it was horribly disfigured. His head 
was beaten in, one of his eyes hung from the socket, and 
one of his wrists was broken. 

During our stay at Nancy and Luneville, we had the 
opportunity of receiving a good deal of evidence with refer- 
ence to crimes committed by the Germans in districts which 
were still occupied by their troops, and which the majority 
of the inhabitants had been forced to evacuate. The most 
cruel of these acts took place at the village of Embermenil. 
At the end of October or the beginning of November, an 
enemy patrol met near this commune a young woman, 
Mme. Masson, who was obviously pregnant, and questioned 
her as to whether there were French soldiers at Embermenil. 
She replied that she did not know, which was true. The 
Germans then entered the village and were received by our 
soldiers with rifle fire. On the 5th of November a detach- 
ment of the Fourth Bavarian Regiment arrived and col- 
lected all the inhabitants in front of the church. An officer 
then asked which person it was who had betrayed them. 
Suspecting that he referred to her meeting with the Germans 
some days before, and realizing the danger that all her fel- 
low citizens ran, Mme. Masson with great courage stepped 
forward and repeated what she had said, and declared that 
in saying it she had acted in good faith. She was imme- 
diately seized and forced to sit down on a bench beside 
young Dime, aged twenty-four, who had been taken hap- 
hazard as a second victim. The whole population begged 
for mercy for the unhappy woman, but the Germans were 
inflexible. "One woman and one man," they said, "must 
be shot. ^ Those are the colonel's orders. What will you? 
It is war." Eight soldiers drawn up in two ranks fired three 
times at the two martyrs in the presence of the whole vil- 
lage. The house of Mme. Masson's father-in-law was then 
set on fire. That of M. Blanchin had been burned a few 
moments before. 

354 



ALLEGED ATROCITIES IN FRANCE 

Treatment of the civil 'population 

I give here a summary made by Professor Morgan 
from material collected with the most rigorous care- 
fulness : — 

As the German troops passed through the communes and 
towns of the arrondissements of Ypres, Hazebrouck, Be- 
thune, and Lille, they shot indiscriminately at the innocent 
spectators of their march; the peasant tilling his fields, the 
refugee tramping the roads, and the workman returning to 
his home. To be seen was often dangerous, to attempt to 
escape being seen was invariably fatal. Old men and boys 
and even women and young girls were shot like rabbits. 
The slightest failure to comply with the peremptory de- 
mands of the invader has been punished with instant death. 
The cure of Pradelle, having failed to find the key of the 
church tower, was put against the wall and shot; a shep- 
herd at a lonely farmhouse near Rebais who failed to pro- 
duce bread for the German troops had his head blown off 
by a rifle; a baker at Moorslede who attempted to escape 
was suffocated by German soldiers with his own scarf; a 
young mother at Bailleul who was unable to produce suffi- 
cient coffee to satisfy the demands of twenty-three German 
soldiers had her baby seized by one of the latter and its head 
dipped in scalding water; an old man of seventy-seven years 
of age at La Ferte Gaucher who attempted to protect two 
women in his house from outrage was killed with a rifle shot. 

At Doulieu, which is a small village, eleven civilians were 
shot; they were strangers to the place, and it was only by 
subsequent examination of the papers found on their 
bodies that some of them were identified as inhabitants of 
neighboring villages. If these men had been guilty of any 
act of hostility it is not clear why they were not shot at 
once in their own villages, and inquiries at some of the vil- 
lages from which they were taken have revealed no knowl- 
edge of any act of the kind. It is, however, a common prac- 
tice for the German troops to seize the male inhabitants 
(especially those of military age) of the places they occupy 

355 



OBSTACLES TO PEACE 

and take them away on their retreat. Twenty-five were so 
taken from Bailleul and nothing has been heard of them 
since. There is only too much reason to suppose that the 
same fate has overtaken them as that which befell the 
unhappy men executed at Doulieu. 

I believe the explanation of these sinister proceedings 
to be that the men were compelled to dig trenches for the 
enemy, to give information as to the movement of their 
own troops, and to act as guides (all clearly practices which 
are a breach of the laws of war and of the Hague Regula- 
tions), and then, their presence being inconvenient and 
their knowledge of the enemy's positions and movements 
compromising, they were put to death. This is not a mere 
surmise. The male inhabitants of Warneton were forced 
to dig trenches for the enemy, and an inhabitant of Merris 
was compelled to go with the German troops and act as a 
guide; it is notorious that the official manual of the German 
General Staff, " Kriegshrauch in Landskriege" condones, 
and indeed indoctrinates, such breaches of the laws of war. 
British soldiers who were taken prisoners by the Germans 
and subsequently escaped were compelled by their captors 
to dig trenches, and in a field notebook found on a soldier of 
the 100th Saxon Body Grenadiers (Twelfth Corps) occurs 
the following significant passage : — 

My two prisoners worked hard at digging trenches. 
At midday I got the order to rejoin at village with 
my prisoners. I was very glad, as I had been ordered 
to shoot them both as soon as the French attacked. 
Thank God it was not necessary. 

Those who were sent home told of their journey from 
their homes to the concentration camps in Germany, 
marches and nights spent in enclosures, in a station, in a 
church; days without food and crowded into cattle trucks. 
And then the terrible scene at Liibeck! The men were 
ordered to get out of the train and were then taken in one 
direction, while the women were sent in another. Some- 
times the separation took place at the outset. "What was 
particularly revolting," add the commissioners, "was that 

356 



ALLEGED ATROCITIES IN FRANCE 

the Germany military authority in seizing haphazard the 
various people who happened to be on the spot, had no com- 
punction in separating the various members of a family. . . . 
Little children were placed in one convoy and their mothers 
in another, and some women are still ignorant as to the fate 
of their husbands." 

Like Nonieny, the pretty town of Gerbeviller, on the 
banks of the Mortagne, fell a victim to the fury of the Ger- 
mans under terrible circumstances. On the 24th of August 
the enemy's troops hurled themselves against some sixty 
chasseurs-a-pied, who offered heroic resistance, and who 
inflicted heavy loss upon them. They took a drastic ven- 
geance upon the civilian population. Indeed, from the 
moment of their entrance into the town, the Germans gave 
themselves up to the worst excesses, entering the houses, 
with savage yells, burning the buildings, killing, arresting 
the inhabitants, and sparing neither women nor old men. 
Out of four hundred and seventy-five houses, twenty at 
most are still habitable. More than one hundred persons 
have disappeared, fifty at least have been massacred. Some 
were led into the fields to be shot, others were murdered in 
their houses or struck down in passing through the streets 
as they were trying to escape from the conflagration. Up 
to now thirty-six bodies have been identified. They are 
those of MM. Barthelemy, Blosse (Senior), Robinet, Chre- 
tien, Remy, Bourguignon, Perrin, Guillaume, Bernasconi, 
Gauthier, Menu, Simon, Lingenheld (father and son), Be- 
noit, Calais, Adam, Caille, Lhuillier, Regret, Plaid (aged 
fourteen), Leroi, Bazzolo, Gentil, Victor Dehan, Charles 
Dehan, Dehan the Younger, Brennevald, Parisse, Yong, 
Frangois, Secretary of the Mairie; Mmes. Perrot, Courtois, 
Gauthier, and Guillaume, and Miles. Perrin and Miquel. 

Fifteen of these poor people were executed at a place 
called "La Prele." They were buried by their fellow-citi- 
zens on September 12 or 15. Almost all had their hands 
tied behind their backs. 

This massacre lasted two days. 

357 



OBSTACLES TO PEACE 

The "Nineteenth Century" for September, 1916, 
publishes the following : — 

It is in the neighborhood of Nancy that the most wide- 
spread damage has been wrought. The Germans, before 
they were driven back, swarmed all over the district, and a 
motor drive demonstrates how much the villages differ in 
the treatment they received at the hands of the invader. 
Some escaped lightly, whilst a kilometre or so distant a 
village has been destroyed, and probably without any valid 
pretext. Possibly a village that suffered as much as any is 
Gerbeviller, but it is not unique. German military disci- 
pline is too strict for detachments of troops to get out of 
hand. An orgy such as happened at Gerbeviller could only 
arise with the connivance of the officer in command. 

In one of the houses, which has been recently repaired, 
Sister Julie, the heroic Sister of Mercy of the Order of St. 
Charles, is to be found. She is a small woman, wearing the 
dress of the order, and decorated with the Cross of the 
Legion of Honor, a distinction conferred on few other 
women; her face shows keen intelligence, sound common 
sense, and great courage; a lady who would command re- 
spect from all and would prove a judicious friend to those 
in distress. Her sense of justice would deprive her of all 
fear, and probably it is to this that she and many others 
owe their escape. In her small room, recently repaired, and 
now furnished only with a six-feet square of carpet, four 
Windsor chairs, and a small table with a red cloth, she gave 
me an account of what had happened and afterwards con- 
firmed in it writing under the seal of the Hospice. From it 
the following sentences are taken : more might be given : — 

A young woman named Eugenie Perrin resisted the 
Germans, who, after subjecting her by force to the last 
outrages, poured petroleum over her and set her on 
iire. An epileptic, a young man of military age, named 
Lingenheld, a non-combatant, suffered in the same 
way in the presence of his mother. A baker was thrown 
alive into his oven. The mayor's clerk, a man named 

358 



ALLEGED ATROCITIES IN FRANCE 

Frangois, after having a revolver held in turn to his 
forehead, temples, and heart, was killed by the officer 
by a blow on the head. An old man of ninety-nine 
years named Barthelemy was pinned to the ground by 
a bayonet through the left eye; whilst other old men 
were tied together in batches of five and then shot. 
More than a hundred inhabitants of the village are 
missing. It cannot be urged as an excuse that the 
Germans were drunk, and the officer in command could 
have restrained them if he had so wished ; but this un- 
bridled license turned to hatred of their victims as soon 
as they saw they would have to evacuate the village. 
Then it was that house after house was systematically 
set on fire, special appliances having been brought for 
the purpose. Out of four hundred and seventy-five 
houses scarcely twenty remain. 

After describing an occurrence that I do not care 
to print, Professor Morgan writes : — 

It is almost needless to say that the woman went mad. 
There is very strong reason to suspect that young girls were 
carried off to the trenches by licentious German soldiery, 
and there abused by hordes of savage and licentious men. 
People in hiding in the cellars of houses have heard the 
voices of women in the hands of German soldiers crying 
all night long until death or stupor ended their agonies. 
One of our officers, a subaltern in the sappers, heard a wom- 
an's shrieks in the night coming from behind the German 
trenches near Richebourg l'Avoue; when we advanced in 
the morning and drove the Germans out, a girl was found 
lying naked on the ground "pegged out" in the form of a 
crucifix. I need not go on with this chapter of horrors. To 
the end of time it will be remembered, and from one gen- 
eration to another, in the plains of Flanders, in the valleys 
of the Vosges, and on the rolling fields of the Marne, the 
oral tradition of men will perpetuate this story of infamy 
and wrong. 

I publish herewith extracts from an article which 

359 



OBSTACLES TO PEACE 

was published on the 18th of October, 1914, in the 
"Jauersches Tageblatt." Jauer is a town in Silesia, 
about thirty miles west of Breslau. 

The article was written by a non-commissioned 
officer, named Xlempt, 1st Company, Infantry Regi- 
ment 54. It is headed: — 

A Day of Honor for our Regiment, 2kih September, 1914 

Klempt tells how on the 24th of September his 
regiment which had left Hannonville in the morning, 
supported on the march by Austrian batteries, was 
suddenly received by a double fire from artillery and 
infantry. The losses were enormous. And yet the 
enemy was invisible. At last, however, it was seen 
that the firing came from above, from trees where 
French soldiers were posted. From now on I shall no 
longer summarize, but quote : — 

We brought them down like squirrels, and gave them a 
warm reception, with blows of the butt and the bayonet: 
they no longer need doctors; we are no longer fighting loyal 
enemies, but treacherous brigands. 

By leaps and bounds we got across the clearing. They 
were here, there, and everywhere hidden in the thicket. 
Now it is down with the enemy! And we will give them no 
quarter. Every one shoots standing; a few, a very few, 
fire kneeling. No one tries to take shelter. We reach a 
little depression in the ground: here the "red trousers" 
dead or wounded lie in a heap around. We knock down or 
bayonet the wounded, for we know that those scoundrels 
fire at our backs when we have gone by. There was a 
Frenchman there stretched out, full length, face down, 
pretending to be dead. A kick from a strong fusilier soon 
taught him that we were there. Turning round, he asked 
for quarter, but we answered, "Is that the way your tools 
work, you?" — and he was nailed to the ground. Close to 

360 



ALLEGED ATROCITIES IN FRANCE 

me I heard odd cracking sounds. They were blows from a 
gun on the bald head of a Frenchman which a private of 
the 154th was dealing out vigorously; he was wisely using a 
French gun so as not to break his own. Tender-hearted 
souls are so kind to the French wounded that they finish 
them with a bullet, but others give them as many thrusts 
and blows as they can. 

Our adversaries had fought bravely, we had to contend 
with picked men; they let us get within thirty, even ten 
metres of them — too near. Sacks and arms thrown away 
in quantities showed that they had tried to run, but at the 
sight of the "gray phantoms" fear paralyzed them, and on 
the narrow path they had to take, German bullets brought 
them the word of command, Halt. At the entry into the 
screen of branches, there they lay groaning and crying for 
quarter. But whether wounded slightly or severely, the 
brave fusiliers spare their country the cost of caring for 
many enemies. 

There has recently been published a book entitled 
"The Martyrs of Alsace and Lorraine." I quote from 
a review of the book by M. Stephen Pichon, formerly 
Foreign Minister of France : — 

More than forty-five years have gone by since Alsace 
and a portion of Lorraine were torn from France. Arbi- 
trary exercise of power, delation, police rule, and terrorism 
have been the methods of Germanization employed unin- 
terruptedly against the population of the provinces. But 
what tongue can tell their sufferings since the war began! 
The treatment that has been inflicted upon them puts them 
in the rank of the most unfortunate people that history has 
known. Their martyrdom is equal to that of the Venetians 
and Lombards, the Poles or the inhabitants of the Two 
Sicilies. Suspects in Alsace-Lorraine have been dealt with 
by the Kaiser's agents like the worst malefactors — spies, 
traitors, or assassins. Long ago the police had drawn up a 
list of those of them who were to be arrested, imprisoned, 
deported, condemned, or shot; and even before hostilities 

361 



OBSTACLES TO PEACE 

had opened between the two armies the executions had 
begun. Any one who was regarded as friendly to France 
was arrested; traders, manufacturers, peasants, landowners, 
Catholic priests, and Protestant pastors came into the iron 
grip. The fortresses, and principally that of Ehrenbreitstein, 
were filled with prisoners. 

It hardly needs saying that the women and children have 
not been spared. Great numbers of these women have been 
arrested and imprisoned, and even condemned to hard 
labor ! As for the children, they are shot without any form 
of trial when they are suspected of intelligence or of com- 
munication with the French. 

Even among the officials and functionaries, nominated 
and carefully tested as these are by the Prussian authorities, 
one finds victims of German suspicion. As for the Alsace- 
Lorraine soldiery who were called to the colors to fight 
against France, the Germans have rid themselves of diffi- 
culties by sending them to the Russian front, by imposing 
labors upon them above their strength, by torturing them, 
by bringing about their death by privations and blows. 

Another thing that grows is the number of unfortunates 
whose names are placarded on red posters, and who have 
been ruthlessly shot, on the pretext of espionage. These 
placards should bo piously preserved and re-read when the 
time comes. Those whose names are mentioned there will 
have the right later on to monuments, erected by patriotic 
piety. So far from the aim that their assassins had in view 
being achieved, these victims are glorified in the eyes of the 
population. 

It is but a weak and a very incomplete picture that I 
have given of the sorrows and misery of the French people 
of Alsace-Lorraine. I ask a place for them in the hearts of 
our friends. 

The two million inhabitants of France in the terri- 
tory occupied by the German armies are subject to 
the same regime as are the Belgians, excepting that 
all the farm produce is taken by Germany, The 

362 



ALLEGED ATROCITIES IN FRANCE 

French Government buys the food for this impris- 
oned population, and it is handled and distributed 
by the American Commission which has charge of 
the feeding of Belgium. 

This is a good place to speak of Mr. H. C. Hoover, 
the head of the Belgian Commission. Mr. Hoover is 
responsible for organizing the forces that saved Bel- 
gium and the occupied portion of France from starva- 
tion. 

The feeling in France arising from the absolute 
conviction of the truth of the records of alleged atroci- 
ties is one of the most influential factors in deter- 
mining France's prosecution of the war to a victorious 
conclusion. 



CHAPTER XVII 

THE ALLEGED ATROCITIES BY THE RUSSIAN 
SOLDIERS IN EAST PRUSSIA 

Less is known about the invasion of East Prussia by 
the Russian armies than about any other part of the 
war area in the countries of Western Europe. Years 
ago, in traveling through this region, I remarked its 
appearance of placid prosperity and agricultural 
wealth. Last February, I saw the terrible destruc- 
tion in its towns and hamlets. The suffering and de- 
portations of the inhabitants of East Prussia will 
never be forgotten in Germany. 

Judge Nippert, of Cincinnati, brought this message 
to America from Kaiser Wilhelm II to the President 
of the United States : — 

It might be well for America to know that of three thou- 
sand inhabitants, women, children, and old men, driven 
by the Cossacks out of one town on the Prussian frontier, 
across the icy fields and snow-covered steppes into Russia, 
forty per cent of the children have died and thirty per cent 
of the women. Ten thousand women and children and 
old men have been driven into Russia from the Prussian 
frontier. 

It is the fate of these non-belligerents that causes me to 
express to the President of the United States the wish and 
hope that America, as the great nation which has done so 
much for the different war-stricken districts, will not turn 
a deaf ear to the call of the children and the tears of the 
mothers who are still surviving Russian captivity to-day. 

If America, with her standing among the nations of the 
world, could exercise her great influence, through her Gov- 

364 



ATROCITIES BY RUSSIAN SOLDIERS 

eminent and its President, to prevail upon Russia to re- 
lease the surviving remnant of this vast number of those 
who have suffered, then America would, indeed, be doing an 
act of humanity for which my people would be eternally 
grateful. We ask nothing for our army or for ourselves, 
but fathers and mothers, brothers and sisters, are standing 
in despair at our frontier looking for the return of those who 
are near and dear to them, and we are helpless. 

A third winter of war in Russia will mean the absolute 
annihilation of every woman, certainly every child, who 
is being held captive in the country beyond the Fatherland. 
Here is an opportunity for America to invoke the spirit of 
humanity and bring happiness and joy where to-day is 
only sorrow and distress. . . . 

The Emperor, according to Judge Nippert, ex- 
pressed much surprise that the American people, who 
had accepted as true all the stories of the destruction 
of the Rheims Cathedral and the Hotel de Ville in 
Louvain by the Germans, should take no interest, 
seemingly, in the wanton destruction by the Cossacks 
of churches erected in East Prussia in the eleventh 
and twelfth centuries by the Knights of the Crusades. 
Judge Nippert continues: — 

While Belgium and Poland had their relief fund, and 
Northern France its aid, and Servia, Montenegro, Albania, 
and Macedonia were also under the affluent protectorate 
of benevolent American millionaires, — even far-off Ar- 
menia had her wealthy American benefactors, — poor East 
Prussia had been left out. The ravages of war have been 
more violent and more uncompromising there than in any 
part of the area covered by the armies. And yet, little is 
known in this country of the extensive material destruc- 
tion which has been carried on without any military neces- 
sity or reason. 

The history of sorrow, distress, crime, and devastation, 
the murder of innocents, the rape of women, torture of 

365 



OBSTACLES TO PEACE 

men, destruction of schools and churches, the burning of 
farms, killing of wonderful Holstein herds — it all goes to 
make a page in the history of the European war that, as 
yet, has not been read by the American public. There is no 
sadder story — none that should appeal more to the sym- 
pathetic hearts of a sympathetic nation than this story of 
Cossack invasion of the beautiful prairies and forests of 
East Prussia. . . . 

The Russians came out of the forest over night like hun- 
gry wolves and took possession of the entire country. The 
bridges to the Fatherland were blown up and the ferries 
across the Jura were either destroyed or captured by the 
Russians. Five thousand people were literally marooned. 
The Germans were unable to drive the Cossacks out of 
these districts, and up to February 15, 1915, they had un- 
disputed sway and added a bloody page to the history of 
warfare. 

When the Cossacks left, of the five thousand people of 
the Bearskin district three thousand were carried to the 
den of the Russian bear. When I say three thousand I do 
not mean men; I mean women, with all their children. The 
men were at war, or had been taken prisoners by the Rus- 
sians early in the game. This fate befell mothers with from 
two to twelve children, ranging in age from two months to 
sixteen years. Little girls, little boys — neither sex nor age 
received mercy at the hands of these Russian brutes. 

The Cossacks gathered them like the Texas cowboy 
would round up his cattle and drove them along the high- 
ways into the Russian inferno. Mothers gave birth to chil- 
dren in the forests with the snow for a cradle and a dark 
Russian pine for a canopy. The children were buried as soon 
as they were born; a blanket of snow was all that kind Na- 
ture contributed to cover the bones of the newborn victims. 

Let me tell you that there is in the history of our Western 
frontier during the bloodiest days of Sioux and Apache 
warfare nothing that can equal the story of the Bearskin. 
I have in my possession records of villages, family by family, 
with the age, and so forth, of the mother and each of the 
children. And it is shown that of the three thousand who 

366 



ATROCITIES BY RUSSIAN SOLDIERS 

were carried into Russia forty per cent of the children have 
died and thirty per cent of the women. The Russian cattle 
cars and the Russian steppes are no more the respecters of 
persons, sex, or age than the Cossack, and each has de- 
manded its toll. 

From the German official records, I quote extracts: 

Atrocities during the first Russian invasion 

By U. Brackmann 

For other deeds the Russian cannot be excused. When 
the Russian advance guard, on the 2d and 3d of August, 
1914, removed from Eidtkuhnen, not only foodstuffs, but 
also plundered watchmaking establishments, when they 
wrested away from those they met their watches and money, 
then no paragraph in the laws of war can exonerate them. 
When, on August 3, in Schwiddern, in the district of Jo- 
hannisburg, whose destructive soldiers without much ado 
shot at a woman over the crowd when she called to them, 
"But, men, what are you doing there?" — when they 
wounded an aged man of eighty years who stood by, and 
threw him, half dead, into the burning house of his son, 
those things are, and remain, state of war notwithstanding, 
nothing more than common murder. From the very first 
day, the troops conducted themselves, not like members of 
a regular army, but like true marauders. 

The impression made by this absolutely unforeseen and 
ridiculous behavior of those Russian advance guards is 
vividly portrayed in the reports made by the border popu- 
lations. In the district of Johannisburg, for example, sev- 
eral citizens write : — 

During the first days of mobilization, our village, 
which lies about two kilometres from the border, was 
overrun, and what is more, it was overrun by Cossacks. 
They rode in all directions through the village, took 
twenty-eight horses, pigs, geese, and cows; also money, 
watches, rings. These they piled on wagons, which 



OBSTACLES TO PEACE 

they had stolen from us, and took them over the bor- 
der. They left us and moved into the neighboring 
village, where they did the same things over again. 
To save our lives, we had to flee to the woods, where 
we secluded ourselves for several nights. 

A worse story is told by the owner of a mill in the district 
of Ly ck : — 

On August 4, a patrol consisting of twelve Cossacks 
entered our village, surrounded the homestead of my 
neighbor, and fired, without any cause, at random at 
the house. Braving the shots, the son of the house fled 
over the garden hedge. The Cossacks espied him and 
called after him to stop. As he did not stand still, they 
shot him down. I stood about thirty paces away and 
saw him fall down dead. On the same day, I saw a 
mason coming on his bicycle from our village. The 
Cossacks followed him immediately, shot at him, and 
as he made a halt, seized him, broke his handle-bars, 
causing the man to cry out miserably. He freed him- 
self, nevertheless, fled into the house, ran up one flight 
of stairs and flung himself on a bed to hide himself. A 
Cossack followed on his heels. Then I heard dull shots, 
and when I ran upstairs with several other men, we 
found the mason lying in the bed with a deadly wound 
in the forehead. 

Perhaps the best known are the events during these days 
in Schwiddern, near Bialla, in the district of Johannisburg. 
To this place, which is very close to the border, the Cos- 
sacks came very early and immediately opened a dreadful 
fire on all the homes and all the inhabitants, without the 
slightest offense having been committed on their part. As 
about fifty persons, in sheer perplexity, rushed to hide be- 
hind a dense hedge, the Russians dropped fire on the hedge 
and killed and wounded a line of persons. 

All these and many other excesses were committed in 
the first days after mobilization. When later, the Russian 
officers excused their atrocities in East Prussia by declaring 

368 



ATROCITIES BY RUSSIAN SOLDIERS 

that they had been revenged for the crimes committed by 
our soldiers in Belgium, we knew we were best informed in 
regard to these perfectly authentic reports, which were 
nothing more than a palliative that did not tally with the 
facts. For these misdeeds took place before the entrance of 
our troops into Belgium, or, at any rate, at a time when the 
Russians could not yet have obtained any knowledge of 
the events that took place there. Another reason why their 
excuse lacks point is because the behavior of the Russians 
here in East Prussia cannot be compared to the behavior of 
our troops in Belgium; for until now it has never been 
proved that the population of our Province ever rose up in 
arms. Only on one occasion, a few peasants banded to- 
gether and slew two Cossacks who tried to rape their wives 
and daughters, and there it was a case of self-defense, which 
is also permissible in war. 

As soon as their hasty retreat made it impossible to trans- 
port these people, the troops, with the assent of their offi- 
cers, hewed down the population without more ado. They 
did not confine themselves at all to the men, but killed 
ruthlessly whatever came within the range of their guns 
and lances. Only in this way can be explained the high 
figures — 1620 killed and 433 wounded citizens. 

It is a usage of war that sharpshooters (francs-tireurs) 
shall be shot and their houses burned down. But how did 
the Russians do this? On the least suspicion that some one 
had shot in a village, they killed a great number of persons 
without the least investigation. Whoever fell into their 
hands was shot down, bayoneted, or killed with the butt- 
end of a gun. According to Rittergutsbesitzer Born, these 
bloody outrages took place in the presence of and with the 
authority of the higher Russian officers. Without convin- 
cing themselves that it was really a question of sharpshoot- 
ers, they allowed half a hundred persons to be killed. 

Harsh war levies and treatment of hostages 

When Rossel, a city of about 4400 inhabitants, within 
one and a half hours was obliged to pay 29,000 marks 

369 



OBSTACLES TO PEACE 

($7250), one can see the needless cruelty. Lyck, with 15,- 
000 inhabitants had to pay a contribution of not less than 
$15,000 as a compensation for Kalisch (25,000 inhabitants), 
upon which city the German troops had levied a punish- 
ment of $2500 because they had been fired upon. 

The treatment of our hostages was hard enough. The 
dragging of the officials of Lyck to Siberia was a bold piece 
of work. It may be true enough that our regulations pro- 
vided for the removal of Belgian hostages to Germany, and 
that they are still being held there to day. But in our case 
that measure was inevitable owing to the fanatical behavior 
of the population, who fell to arms like an army of lions; 
and seriously, hardly even the Russians can deny that 
there is a huge difference between a German prison in a 
fortress and the winter quarters in Siberia. But how do 
these Russian leaders intend to justify the carting-away of 
thousands of East-Prussian townsmen, and peasants, who, 
without regard to age and sex, from the infant in arms to 
the woman ninety years of age, were brought to the in- 
terior of Russia? Do by chance small babies fall into the 
category of "hostages" according to the understanding of 
the laws of nations? 

Summary 

The misfortune which the Russian brought upon our 
Province (East Prussia) is exceptionally great. It is without 
parallel in history that about 400,000 persons abandoned 
their homes within twelve hours, that in a few months a total 
of 870,000 persons were obliged to take flight for a greater 
or shorter period of time; it is unbelievable that more than 
2000 innocent individuals were killed or wounded, 5419 
men (mostly the aged), 2587 women and 2719 children, 
totaling to 10,725 persons in all, were dragged away, and 
that more than 100,000 lost all their possessions. In such a 
case, it is our duty to give aid with all our strength and all 
our means. 



CHAPTER XVIII 

ALLEGED GERMAN ATROCITIES AGAINST THE 

RUSSIANS 

The allegation of outrages committed by the Germans 
upon Russians in German territory and in Russia has 
been drawn up by Colonel RezanofT, adjunct to the mil- 
itary procurer before the tribunal of the military dis- 
trict of Petrograd, in a book composed of the narratives 
of eye-witnesses or of the victims themselves, carefully 
verified by the author, as well as from official docu- 
ments. 

The effect on the Russians of these records of al- 
leged atrocities is the same as the effect of similar rec- 
ords on the French and the English. They have cre- 
ated a state of mind that is hostile to peace without 
victory. 

Colonel RezanofT commenting on the official docu- 
ments says : — 

Although the exact hour of the departure [from Berlin] 
of the members of the embassy, which had been fixed by 
the German Minister for Foreign Affairs, could not have 
been unknown to the police, this departure took place in 
the midst of a noisy demonstration hostile to Russia, and 
the rudest invectives, and was accompanied by deeds of 
violence. The mobs attacked the carriages as they were 
leaving the hotel of the embassy, in which were the members 
of the Imperial Embassy at Berlin and of the various im- 
perial legations to the other German courts. Almost all of 
these persons received more or less violent blows in the back, 
on the neck or the shoulders; as, for example, the Minister 
Plenipotentiary at Carlsruhe, Count Brevern de la Gardie, 

371 



OBSTACLES TO PEACE 

and his wife; Mme. Lermontoff, wife of the Minister from 
Russia to Stuttgart (on whose back an aged gentleman with 
a white beard and gold-rimmed spectacles broke his um- 
brella); the Countesses Lutke and Todleben, sisters-in-law 
of our resident minister at Darmstadt; the Princess Belos- 
selsky-Belosesky, the Secretaries of the Legation Dmitroff 
and Koutepoff, and many others. Several of these per- 
sons as, for example, Mme. Berens, wife of the Naval At- 
tache, the Secretary of Embassy, lonoff, and others received 
light contusions in their faces, from stones thrown by the 
crowd. The deacon of the Russian church, Lopatka, had 
his felt hat entirely broken in by a blow from a cane; the 
hat alone saved him a severe wound. It is only by mere 
chance that these acts of violence had not more serious 
effect; the Chamberlain Khrapovitsky, however, former 
Secretary of the Embassy from Russia to Berlin, received 
a blow on the head which caused a profuse hemorrhage, 
required a dressing on the train, and medical care at Copen- 
hagen. The crowds spat full in the faces of most of the ladies, 
as, for example, the Princess Belosselsky, Mme. Raevsky, 
the Countesses Todleben, Lutke, and Brevern, etc. The 
children escaped blows only through the presence of mind 
of their parents who placed them on the floors of the auto- 
mobiles. 

The German authorities were still less scrupulous in their 
treatment of the Russian Consular Agents. The Russian 
Consular Agent at Breslau, Baron Schilling, was arrested in 
his house on the 2d of August, between five and six o'clock 
in the afternoon, submitted to a minute search, and im- 
prisonment. In the prison, he underwent a treatment which, 
in its grossness, differed in no respect from the regime im- 
posed upon the criminals confined in the neighboring cells; 
moreover, the directors of the prison replied to his most 
modest requests by refusal, accompanied with insolent 
taunts. . . . From Konigsberg, Baron Schilling and his 
family, still under the surveillance of a soldier or an officer, 
were sent to Insterbourg, where they were searched, during 
which time they were entirely undressed, even the children. 

The treatment inflicted by the German authorities on 

372 



ATROCITIES AGAINST THE RUSSIANS 

Senator Bellegarde, the Russian General Commissioner 
at the International Exhibition of the Press, at Leipsic, 
Master of the Imperial Court, a man of great distinction 
and a high Russian dignitary, exceeds in brutality the facts 
given above. Foreseeing the possibility of a break in dip- 
lomatic relations, Senator Bellegarde declared on the 1st 
of August, in the meeting of the Commissioners of the Ex- 
position, that he intended to close the Russian section; but 
yielding to the entreaties of the committee of the exposi- 
tion, he consented to postpone the closing to a later date, 
on condition that he should receive a guarantee that the 
objects exposed would run no risk, and that he himself and 
the members of the Russian Commission would be per- 
mitted to return to Russia without obstacle. These con- 
ditions were inserted in a proces-verbal, drawn up to this 
effect, which did not prevent the fact that on the 3d of 
August, at three o'clock, Senator Bellegarde and all the 
members of his commission were put under arrest in the 
Russian pavilion; then they were put into a prison for crimi- 
nals, where they passed the night. 

According to authentic information Prince Youssoupoff, 
Count Soumarokoff-Elstone, with his family, arrived in 
Berlin the day of the declaration of war. Almost on his 
heels a German officer presented himself at the hotel where 
the party had just taken rooms, and notified him that he 
and his son were prisoners of war. Hardly had the officer 
left the room when Her Highness Princess Irene Alexan- 
drovna called by telephone the Princess Royal of Germany, 
her friend of long standing, and informed her of the arrest 
of her husband and of his father. The Princess Royal Ce- 
cilie answered that within an hour she would see the Em- 
peror personally and would ask him to permit the two 
Princes Youssoupoff a free passage to the frontier. 

More than an hour of anxious waiting passed by; at last 
the telephone bell rang. The endeavor of the Princess Royal 
had failed, for the reason that the order to arrest as pris- 
oners of war Russians traveling in Germany emanated 
directly from the Emperor. 

It was only through the kindness of the Ambassador 

373 



OBSTACLES TO PEACE 

from Spain, who offered his automobile, that the Princes 
Youssoupoff and their family were able to go to the station, 
where they were admitted into the train of Her Majesty 
the Empress Marie Feodorovna, who was passing at that 
moment. 

The Russian visitors were thrust into railway wagons 
devoted to the transport of stock, and from which often 
the manure had not yet been cleaned away. These un- 
happy people on their arrival in a city were crowded into 
stables, slaughter-houses (for example, at Stettin), pigpens, 
and in quarantine stations for animals. They were driven, 
women and children, old people and invalids, surrounded 
by soldiers, like a flock of cattle, at so rapid a pace, some- 
times with arms held up (as at Konigsberg), that the women 
fell to the ground exhausted with fatigue. 

"We were utterly exhausted from hunger, and nights 
of sleeplessness — particularly the women and children," 
declares Vice-Admiral Tz. It is also self-evident that many 
were in no condition to walk fast enough to suit the soldiers. 
So they shoved them on with blows with sticks, fists, and 
even at the point of the bayonet. One old man lagged be- 
hind. Bang I came a blow with a club in his back, and he 
fell with a groan. Many women suffered nervous collapse. 
The children uttered heartrending cries; in short, it was a 
brutal spectacle. The populace stirred up the anger of the 
soldiers and the police by shouting incessantly to them: 
"Thrash them well, those Russian pigs; teach them to 
walk, those beasts!" 

Here is a scene that took place: One gentleman, in the 
disorder of one of those "perquisitions" at the railroad 
station of Varnemunde, took, in his haste, a package. On 
the road he discovered that the package did not belong to 
him and threw it away. Having noticed the movement, 
one of the police set his dog upon the man, who jumped 
upon the unfortunate and went for his throat. Hardly a 
moment passed before man and dog were on the ground, 
the dog never slackening his hold on his prize. The man 
was torn to tatters, bitten in his face, and soon was covered 
with wounds. When at last the police officer troubled him- 

374 



ATROCITIES AGAINST THE RUSSIANS 

self enough to come, upon hearing his cries, the man was 
literally torn to pieces. 

I refrain from describing that which ensued. The women 
became insane, children threw themselves into the arms of 
any one who chanced to pass, begging for protection. Often 
these poor little ones appealed in this way to the police 
agents themselves; but they threw them off as if they had 
been dogs. 

On all these marches (Allenstein, Rostock, etc.) the 
women and children were pushed into the railway carriages, 
with fisticuffs and blows from the butts of guns; often the 
members of a family were separated by force. Many per- 
sons lost their children. 

The Russian travelers on these journeys were deprived 
of nourishment for many days in succession; the German 
authorities, even, at times, refused them drinking water. 
A group of Russians of about sixty persons during the jour- 
ney of seventy hours between Allenstein, Danzig, and 
Stettin, were permitted only once to leave the carriage and 
were deprived of water to drink during this entire time. 
All these violences were accompanied by taunts, intimida- 
tions, continual threats, which produced a most crushing 
effect on the women and children and caused fainting spells, 
nervous attacks, and so forth. 

It must be added that men, between the ages of eighty 
and fifteen years, were arrested as prisoners of war, and not 
only were they not permitted to take possession of their 
baggage, but to their mothers, wives, and sisters, who were 
in the greatest despair, they were forbidden to give neces- 
sary money and even to bid them good-bye. The larger 
pieces of baggage of all these unfortunates disappeared in 
the different German railway stations; while the hand- 
baggage of the Russians was often thrown out of the win- 
dows of the train by railway employees and by soldiers. 
In most cases the authorities and the officers did nothing 
but encourage the brutality of the soldiers toward the poor 
travelers, whom they maltreated in every fashion and whom 
they searched, even sometimes obliging them to undress 
completely. 

375 



OBSTACLES TO PEACE 

A physician, Mr. Perechivkine, assistant doctor of the 
clinic of the Military Academy of Medicine at Petrograd, 
who traveled on one of these trains, testifies that among the 
travelers were found persons suffering from diseases of the 
kidney and bladder, who had been obliged to break off their 
cure at Wildungen. On the 3d of August, during the jour- 
ney from Allenstein to Marienburg, for fourteen hours, 
they were forbidden to leave the freight wagon in which 
they had been locked, men and women, to the number of 
more than forty persons, a hardship which caused them 
atrocious suffering, inevitable under such circumstances to 
invalids of this category. 

" I saw one woman," tells V. Nemirovitch-Dant- 
chenko, the well-known Russian journalist, " who, in a 
moment of flurry, had lost the milk she had for her 
baby, kiss the feet of those brutes as she pleaded with 
them to give her little one something — even if it was 
only water. The brutes were so cruel as to show her 
from afar glasses of milk, laughing heartily at this 
subtle joke. The baby died a short time afterward, 
and the mother became insane. How would you de- 
pict scenes like that? " 

"The most painful of all," Doctor N. S. P. told us, 
"was being deprived of nourishment, foods of all kinds, 
all sleep, and finally, the impossibility of satisfying 
natural wants for long periods at a time. Among us 
there were many invalids of both sexes, who had not 
been able to complete their cure which had been bru- 
tally interrupted in Germany, and who had constant 
needs. Their sufferings were horrible to see. I remem- 
ber especially, an old man who writhed with convul- 
sions. All his prayers that a part of the train be fenced 
off for him gave rise merely to coarse jokes on the part 
of the soldiers and the maid (Dienstfrau) . Finally, 
being no longer in a condition to stand his intolerable 
sufferings the passengers, aided by those who still owned 
some baggage, built of them a sort of screen in a corner 
of the train which they made into an improvised dress- 

376 



ATROCITIES AGAINST THE RUSSIANS 

ing-room. It was painful to see the women and young 
girls. We feigned to sleep, or tried to turn away as well 
as we could, so as not to embarrass them too much. 
Such were the conditions in which they held us in our 
trains for more than twenty-four hours." 

V. Nemirovitch-Dantchenko reports that a group of wo- 
men, who were going toward the frontier, traveled twenty- 
four hours without a break. As one cannot overcome na- 
ture, and as in the cattle cars into which they had been 
herded there were naturally no lavatories, the women beg- 
ged that they might be allowed to leave the cars for a 
moment. The guards mocked them coarsely. Many were 
ill ; there were women who fainted ; but it was in vain that 
the Russian "prisoners" appealed to the Germans, drunk 
with cruelty, who had lost all humane instincts. 

The penal administration treated the Russians as crimi- 
nals in common law, ordering that the punishment reserved 
for such be applied to them in all its force. 



Arrest of Mr. Shebeko, member of the Imperial Council, 
and "visit" of the women 

The repatriation of a group of thirty-six Russians — 
women for the greater part — from Baden-Baden and 
other watering-places in southern Germany is related in a 
communication from the agency at Petrograd dated at 
Copenhagen, on the 29th of July. 

In this group were found the Countess Worontzoff-Dach- 
koff, wife of the Vice-Regent of the Caucasus, accompanied 
by her daughters, the Countesses Cheremetieff and Demi- 
doff; Mme. Podiedonostseff, the Countess Orloff -Davy doff, 
the Squire of the Court, Baron Wolf, and the Squire Baron 
Knorring, former Minister at Darmstadt, who was travel- 
ing with his family. 

As far as Frankfurt, the journey was carried out nor- 
mally. Between Frankfurt and Hamburg, when the train 
was full to overflowing of civilians and of soldiers, the Rus- 
sians were arrested by the military authorities. All were 

377 



OBSTACLES TO PEACE 

obliged to alight with their baggage, three stations before 
reaching Hamburg. 

It was only upon the insistence of Baron Knorring that 
they were allowed to continue their journey to the principal 
station at Hamburg. There under military escort they 
were all brought before the station guard, where their pass- 
ports were verified and their baggage examined; after this 
they were directed to the Atlantic Hotel, where, in conse- 
quence of lack of trains, they were obliged to remain until 
Friday evening. At Hamburg, Shebeko, member of the 
Council of the Empire, joined the company. As far as Neu- 
minster the journey was again carried out without incident; 
but at this station Mr. Shebeko was arrested on a telegram 
from Berlin, and was forcibly removed from the train. This 
incident caused the greatest excitement among the Rus- 
sians, which marked them to the public, who had invaded 
the station, and who behaved in an insane manner; the most 
ferocious among them appeared to be nurses and Sisters 
of Charity. The Countess Worontzoff-Dachkoff was sub- 
jected to serious outrage; she had gone into the compart- 
ment next door to her own to announce the arrest of Mr. 
Shebeko when the crowd began to cry, "That woman is 
trying to conceal something," and demanded that she be 
searched. 

Thereupon some drunken soldiers of the Landwehr, with 
cigars in their mouths, climbed into the carriage, drove the 
Countess out of it by the butts of their guns, and began to 
search her upon the platform in the grossest manner, pulling 
her by her hair and by her garments. The crowd, seized by 
a wild dementia, howled and stamped their feet, preventing 
the train from leaving; laborious interviews were required 
to set things in motion again. Baron Knorring, however, 
having shown the passport and ticket of Mr. Shebeko to 
the station-master, the latter replied that even without 
those documents the Russians would meet with too few 
difficulties, and that he would do all he could to further 
inconvenience their journey. 

As to Mr. Shebeko, he began by remaining several hours 
at the station at Neuminster under the guard of soldiers 

378 



ATROCITIES AGAINST THE RUSSIANS 

with bared bayonets, surrounded by a maddened mob 
which incessantly shouted, "Shoot him!" After these long 
and difficult hours of waiting, Mr. Shebeko was sent to a 
prison for common criminals; on his arrival his money and 
all objects of value in his possession were taken from him, 
and he was confined in an isolated cell. There he remained 
twenty-four hours, at the end of which time he was set at 
liberty and even obtained, on his request, a bodyguard of 
soldiers to accompany him as far as the Danish frontier. 
We cannot too much insist upon the fact that in arresting 
the Councillor of the Empire, Mr. Shebeko, or in " visiting " 
in an outrageous manner the wife of the Viceroy of the 
Caucasus, the Countess Worontzoff-Dachkoff, the Germans 
knew perfectly well with whom they were dealing, and were 
quite certain to find in the possession of these high person- 
ages no document of interest to them. 

When one hears of all the sufferings undergone by the 
unfortunate Russian travelers in Germany, one is not as- 
tonished at the communication of the Telegraph Agency 
at Petrograd of August 8, according to which "the Swedish 
hospitals were filled with Russians, wounded, suffering 
from contusions, or ill as a result of the horrible treatment 
suffered at the hands of Germany." Added to the physical 
sufferings were also the moral sufferings due to the uncer- 
tainty of the fate which might befall the Russians at any 
minute, or worry as to the lot of dear ones from whom 
they had been separated in the course of their journey. 

Even persons seriously ill were submitted to the same 
cruel treatment. Thus, Mme. Tougan-Baranovski, wife 
of the Director of the Chancellery of the Minister of the 
Lines of Communication, who had just undergone a very 
serious operation, was attacked at Breslau by the crowd, 
who tore the dressings from her head. She was then put in 
prison. At the end of three days she was obliged to walk 
the whole length of the city, with a great number of her 
compatriots, to the station of Oderbanhof, where they were 
packed into coal cars, still full of detritus. On the 5th of 
August, all these unfortunates were abandoned to their 
fate, not far from Verouchoff on the Russian frontier, which 

379 



OBSTACLES TO PEACE 

they were obliged to reach on foot. On the 13th of August 
Mme. Tougan-Baranovski died at Petrograd, where she had 
been taken in a desperate condition. 

As we have already said, all the facts related above have 
been carefully verified and certified, either by the com- 
plainants themselves, or by eye-witnesses of all these atroci- 
ties. Besides the names already cited, we will mention 
among others the following persons: Senator Count Pahlen; 
Mr. Ivanoff , Senator and President of the Municipal Coun- 
cil at Petrograd; Prince OuroussorT, editor-in-chief of the 
"Journal Officiel"; M. Sventitsky, member of the Duma 
of the Empire; M. Schwartz, Chamberlain and Marshal of 
the Nobility of the district of Novaia Ladoga; Prince P. A. 
Ouroussoff and his wife; Baron L. Knorring, Squire of the 
Court; M. Hirschmann, engineer; Lieutenant-General von 
Beck; Councillor of the State, Kalatcheff; Princess Oukhtom- 
sky, Maid of Honor to Her Majesty the Empress; Coun- 
cillor of State Khovansky; the gentleman of the Chamber 
of His Majesty the Emperor, Pistolkors, and his wife; 
Count and Countess Kankrine; Mme. Demidoff; Princess 
San Donato; Countess Orloff-Davidoff; Mr. Pleske, and 
many others. 

When the first Russian travelers who had returned from 
Germany recounted the atrocities which they had suffered, 
their stories seemed so fantastic that Russian opinion could 
not at first consent to believe them. We were accustomed 
to look upon the Germans as a civilized nation and it seemed 
to us impossible that this entire people should have fallen 
morally so low that it presented the appearance of a horde 
of indigenous brutes, assassins, and plunderers. 

"I cannot explain," said to us Mr. N. S. P — kin, a doctor 
of medicine, "this sudden change in the character of the 
German people. I made my studies in Germany, I lived a 
long time in that country, and I was profoundly convinced 
that the Germans were a people of high civilization." 

This belief was shared by the larger part of Russian 
opinion, unfortunately; it was therefore to us a particu- 
larly rude and unexpected blow dealt by this explosion of 

380 



* 



ATROCITIES AGAINST THE RUSSIANS 

stupid rage and systematic cruelty which, at the first word 
of war, shook the entire Empire of Germany from one end 
to the other, at the command, so to speak, of her Emperor, 
whose hand clearly appears in the beginning of what his- 
tory has already qualified by an ineffaceable word: "The 
German infamy." 

Experiences of invalids in German and Austrian health resorts 

In a letter to the editor of the " Vetcherneie Vremya" of 
the 4th of August, the wife of the engineer T. Tz. writes: — 

On the day of the declaration of war, all my com- 
patriots who were in the establishment were despoiled 
of all they possessed by the directors themselves. Tak- 
ing advantage of the hour when the Russian invalids 
had gone out to take their air baths, Dr. Lipeld-Kota, 
with his employees, entered the bedrooms and there 
indulged in a regular appropriation of goods. Money, 
watches, rings, jewels, everything that had been left 
there, was seized, and when the invalids returned, the 
doctor had them ejected from the establishment with 
the aid of the servants. Many were without a sou and 
were only able to leave Friedrichrod thanks to the assis- 
tance of those of their compatriots who more providently 
had carried their money with them. They were obliged 
to depart dressed as they were, for the doctor even 
refused to restore any clothing. 

Mr. S. V. Tchelnokoff, member of the Municipality of 
Moscow, declares that at Carlsbad the sending of letters 
through the mail was broken off on the 14th of July. Cer- 
tain letters were purely and simply intercepted ; others were 
returned to the senders, inscribed, "Not subject to trans- 
mission." 

The delivery of the sums called for by postal money or- 
ders coming from Russia, to those for whom they were in- 
tended, was suspended, in Austria as well as in Germany, 
several days before the declaration of war. 

Mme. E. I. Godlevska reports that during the seven days 

381 



OBSTACLES TO PEACE 

which preceded Austria's declaration of war upon Serbia, 
being at Carlsbad, she received none of the postal and tele- 
graphic money orders which had been sent her from Russia, 
so that when the police decided upon the expulsion of the 
Russians who were in the city, she was absolutely without 
money. It was only thanks to the friendliness of her com- 
panions in misfortune that, sick and exhausted, she was 
able to find her way back to Petrograd. 

Regions devastated at the retirement of the Germans 

Here is the report of the Governor of Kholm (Chelm) 
to the Minister of the Interior on the state of the dis- 
trict of Tomachoff after its evacuation by the Aus- 
trian hordes : — 

In the Commune Krinitzka, out of fourteen villages, 
eleven suffered by fire and pillage. In this commune, sixty- 
five houses were burned, thirty-five in the village of Maidan- 
Krinitz, and eighteen in the village of Maidan-Seletz. In 
this last village twelve persons were burned alive by the 
Austrians; the victims had sheltered themselves from shells 
by hiding in a hole dug in the earth for this special purpose. 
The Austrians threw burning straw into this hole, and 
standing all about it in a circle, they prevented all from 
coming out by driving them back at the point of the bayo- 
net. 

In the village of Maidan-Krinitz, four persons, two of 
them children, were shot. Besides, in the course of a fusil- 
lade, five persons were killed and six wounded; and finally, 
fourteen were taken away as hostages and their ultimate 
fate has not been established. 

In the commune Tarnovatka, out of twelve villages, ten 
were devastated. In the entire commune, one hundred and 
forty-one inhabitants were carried away by the enemy; 
among them was the secretary of the commune; of these 
unfortunates nine came back to their villages and six were 
killed. The Catholics who had been made prisoners were 
set at liberty at Tomachoff; the Orthodox were retained; 

382 



ATROCITIES AGAINST THE RUSSIANS 

what became of them is not known. According to the testi- 
mony of those who returned, the prisoners were very ill- 
treated by the enemy. In the villages of Gouta and of 
Veprie Ozero the Austrians violated women. In the village 
of Soumine, according to the testimony of the cure of the 
parish of Tarnovatka, a woman who resisted was killed and 
the ears and the breasts were cut from the corpse. In the 
village of Tarnovatka, thirty-three houses were burned, 
but there the fire seems to have been set by the artillery 
firing. In other villages of the same commune cases of the 
voluntary burning of houses have been established. The 
portrait of the Emperor was destroyed and all the archives 
have disappeared; the lodgings of the priests and of the 
schoolmaster were plundered. 

In the commune Yarchovska the large village of Ioroff 
on the frontier, reputed for its opulence, was entirely burned. 
The church and the school alone escaped, because behind 
these buildings the fire had raged with such violence that 
the trees which surrounded the church were consumed. 
Here, as at Maidan-Seletz, the inhabitants took refuge 
during the battle in holes and in cellars, and they also were 
victims of the savagery of the enemy. Forty-eight inhabi- 
tants perished, and three, including a boy eight years old, 
were wounded; five were taken away as hostages. 

The peasants are unanimous in testifying that the vil- 
lage was voluntarily burned by the Austrian soldiers after 
the battle had ended. 

The pretext of this measure, as well as of other atrocities 
committed by the Austrians, was the accusation against 
the populace of having fired on the Austrian troops, while 
in reality it was the Austrian soldiers themselves who pur- 
posely fired provocative shots. 

In the village of Verechtchzi, out of seventy-six houses, 
fifty-four were burned, and six heavily damaged by fires 
voluntarily lighted by the Austrians. The conditions were 
exactly the same as at Ioroff; the fire was lighted after the 
battle on the lying pretext that shots had been fired on the 
Austrian soldiers from the peasants' cabins. The soldiers 
lighted the fire in almost every cottage, carefully, with 

383 



OBSTACLES TO PEACE 

matches, and also by gunshots, and in this latter case they 
used special cartridges containing, instead of powder, a 
stuffing of material easily inflammable. Cartridges of this 
kind have been found among the munitions taken from the 
enemy or abandoned by him. They differ from ordinary 
cartridges by their lightness and by the black or red head 
of the stuffing. 

German atrocities — a Russian indictment 

I make some extracts from official reports of the 
Extraordinary Commission appointed on the initia- 
tive of the Russian State Duma to investigate 
"breaches of the laws and usages of war committed 
by the Austro-Hungarian and German troops": — 

They [the prisoners] are harnessed to the plough together 
with oxen and put into the shafts of heavy carts or wagons 
to drag enormous loads. They are punished in the roughest 
and harshest manner possible for the slightest disobedience, 
or for not doing the proper thing, and this often happens 
simply through ignorance of the German language. They 
are put on bread and water, forced to run until exhausted, 
hung up, or lashed by arms and legs to a post for a couple 
of hours. This has often resulted in putting arms and legs 
out of joint, and in one known case, the victim, when re- 
leased, fell down insensible and did not recover for three 
hours. Prisoners have also been compelled to kneel on 
sharp pieces of broken brick. Besides this kind of punish- 
ment, they have had to submit to insult and mockery from 
the enemy, and have been made sport of by both Germans 
and Austrians. They have been beaten, worried by dogs, 
and kept half starved, whilst being compelled to look on 
at their captors enjoying excellent meals. 

A reserve man of the first category, named Shimchak, 
who was interned in one of the camps for prisoners, was an 
eye-witness of the torturing of four Cossacks in the follow- 
ing manner : The Germans took the first Cossack, placed his 
left hand on a not very high post, and with a sword bayonet 

384 



ATROCITIES AGAINST THE RUSSIANS 

chopped off half of his middle finger, half of his thumb, and 
then half of his little finger. These severed finger pieces 
the Germans thrust into the pocket of the mutilated Cos- 
sack, and led him away; the second Cossack had his ears 
pierced, the third his nose cut off, and the fourth Cossack,, 
seeing the sufferings of his comrades, snatched a bayonet 
from one of the Germans and struck him with it. This Cos- 
sack was at once bayoneted by all the German soldiers on 
the spot. 

For three days in succession German officers tormented 
an under-officer of Cossacks named Zinoviev by applying 
electricity to his legs in order to compel him to give informa- 
tion, and on the fourth day one of the German officers 
burnt the soles of Zinoviev's feet with a red-hot iron. 

A soldier named Yasinsky saw the dead body of a Cos- 
sack with eyes put out, half of the tongue cut off, the fingers 
dislocated, and strips of skin torn from the chest and back. 

"In addition," the reports adds, the Germans have "con- 
tracted the habit of burning prisoners." Eighteen cases of 
the kind have been under inquiry, and two where, in the 
one instance in February, 1915, in Novi Dvor, and in the 
other in September, 1914, at Opadkovits, "Russian wounded 
soldiers were shut up and burnt to death," have already 
been authenticated. 

Near the town of Prasnish, some German troopers ar- 
rested a native from the village of Smoshevo, in the prov- 
ince of Plotsk, named Joseph Franz Maximilianov Fliash- 
chinsky, sixty three years of age, and because he refused 
to act the spy for their benefit they tortured him by first 
binding his arms to a plank. He was then thrown face down- 
ward, the plank to which his arms were attached was fas- 
tened to the ground with wooden pegs, and his legs were 
tied together. In this position the Germans covered him 
with boughs and pine-tree fronds, which they set fire to, 
and then they went away. Fliashchinsky, however, man- 
aged to release himself and get up, thanks to the accidental 
burning through of the rope. 

At the end of last December, near a village in East Prus- 
sia, one of our troopers, through want of caution, was taken 

385 



OBSTACLES TO PEACE 

prisoner, while foraging, by a party of eight Germans, who 
stripped him naked, drove him to the wood pile which they 
had just set alight, and began to roast him over the fire. 
They surrounded him and the burning fagots, and with 
their rifles they kept him on the spot at the point of the 
bayonet. Neither his cries for mercy nor the harrowing 
spectacle of a human creature being burned alive had any 
effect in softening the feelings of his executioners. 

The Germans in Czenstochow 

The "Pensee de Varsovie" reports the story of the prior 
of the monastery of Czenstochow to the Metropolitan of 
the Roman Catholic Churches, Klioutchinski, about the 
excesses committed by the Germans in the monastery: — 

At the time of their entry at Czenstochow, the 
Germans called upon the prior and demanded money. 
Having received a refusal, they spoiled the ikon of the 
Virgin of its golden nimbus encrusted with diamonds, 
the present of a Roman pope to the monastery, and 
they carried away the precious cross presented in olden 
times by Sigismond. 

On the next day the terrible news spread through 
the Polish populace of Czenstochow that the Ger- 
man soldiers had indulged in a scandalous orgy during 
the night in the monastery of Iasnogor. At nightfall, 
therefore, a patrol of German cavalry, five in num- 
ber, passing near the monastery received the fire of a 
group of Polish "partisans." Three German soldiers 
were killed. When at the sound of firing a detach- 
ment of German cavalry came to the rescue, the Polish 
"partisans" had secured their flight. Furiously the 
Germans then began to fire in every direction in the 
streets of the city. 

Among the riches perserved in the monastery of 
Czenstochow, there were thousands of pounds of silver 
and of gold, the offerings of pilgrims; a great quantity 
of pearls, of diamonds and of precious stones adorned 
the frame and the nimbus of the celebrated ikon. 

386 



ATROCITIES AGAINST THE RUSSIANS 

Among these stones there were some of great rarity 
and of inestimable value; notably a pearl presented 
by the Chancellor Prince Lioubomirski, which he had 
received from the Turkish Ambassador; a giant ruby 
taken from the handle of a yatagan, taken by King 
John Sobiesky before Vienna; an emerald weighing 
more than three hundred karats, presented by an 
unknown person, who in 1812 had laid it in the contri- 
bution box. 

Now all these treasures have been stolen by the 
Germans. Emperor William is well aware that the 
Monastery of Iasnogor is a center of pilgrimages for 
the Poles. 

The orgy mentioned in the monastery of Iasnogor, was 
related in a specially poignant manner by Mile. Helene S., 
a young girl of nineteen who succeeded in escaping from 
Czenstochow, and had just arrived at Petrograd. This is 
her story : — 

Scarcely had the Germans crossed the frontier when 
reports of incredible atrocities began to come to us. 
Peasants who had been robbed, pillaged, and ruined, 
fled to the city, coming from every direction in mad 
flight, while from mouth to mouth circulated stories 
horrible enough to raise the hair upon our heads. Mean- 
time, however, we remained absolutely calm, per- 
suaded that because of its ancient relics our city had 
nothing to fear. 

The first German detachments entered about three 
o'clock in the morning and encamped near the mon- 
astery; but not a man stepped inside the monastery. 
Meanwhile the officers were circulating in the streets, 
marking with chalk on each door the number of sol- 
diers to be lodged there. In the street the conduct of 
the men became revolting; they caught and embraced 
the women and under the pretense of searching them, 
indulged in the grossest familiarities. 

The populace, however, bore everything in absolute 
silence and with perfect self-possession, since we were 

SS7 



OBSTACLES TO PEACE 

still convinced that the holy places would not be pro- 
faned. We were firmly resolved to bear courageously 
every violence and every vexation if only our monas- 
tery might be saved ! 

At two in the afternoon the Germans demanded 
that the doors of the monastery should be opened to 
them, which was immediately done, and the com- 
mander surrounded by his officers and escorted by a 
little group of soldiers, disappeared within it. The day 
was relatively calm. Towards eight o'clock in the 
evening a few officers, accompanied by soldiers, visited 
the houses in search of women, under the pretext that 
they were required for different tasks and for the in- 
stallation of bedchambers to be carried out in the 
interior of the monastery. They evidently selected 
the youngest and the prettiest. Having no suspicion 
of the infamous project of the Germans, no one made 
the least resistance. There were even young girls of 
the best houses, who expressed a desire to go and work 
in the venerated monastery! 

I was among those whom the Germans appointed to 
serve. We were divided into groups of ten. The first 
group, in which was my mother, was sent immediately 
to the monastery; the second followed about two hours 
later, and towards one o'clock in the morning it was 
the turn of the third group of which I was a member. 
When we came into the monastery, the first thing that 
surprised us was to hear the sounds of a military band, 
which came to us distinctly, but we were certainly still 
far from guessing the truth ! 

We were led into quite a spacious cell, and com- 
manded to wait. 

Two soldiers began to importune us, and they inter- 
rupted us in a menacing fashion when we began to talk 
together in Polish. At the end of half an hour soldiers 
came in rolling into the cell a cask of wine, and bringing 
glasses. At the same time an officer came in and with 
difficulty said to us in Polish: "A heavy labor is before 
you; you must take indispensable strength for it." Say- 

388 



ATROCITIES AGAINST THE RUSSIANS 

ing these words he began to laugh and rudely pinched 
one of my companions. In the mean time the soldiers 
had filled the glasses with wine. We were forced to 
drink it. 

When I refused to drink the wine offered me, at a 
sign from the officer two soldiers seized me by my arms 
and held my head backwards while a third poured the 
wine down my throat. The Germans had certainly 
mixed some drug with the wine, for all of us as soon as 
we had drunk were seized with vertigo. Then they forced 
us to leave the cell, either one at a time or in groups of 
two. When my turn came, I tried to resist; but the 
soldiers picked me up under my arms and carried me 
across the corridor. ... I then lost consciousness. 

When I came home on the next morning, I found 
my mother in her bed, without consciousness; she was 
in a prolonged swoon. I endeavored to bring her to 
herself again, but every time she fell back in a faint. . . . 

She had undergone the same violence as I. ... I 
decided to leave home to come here to my sister's 
house, for after what had happened, my mother and I 
could no longer look each other in the face. 

The Polish population, the immense majority of which 
is profoundly religious, was thunderstruck to learn how the 
Germans had behaved towards the miraculous ikon of the 
Virgin, the object of all the Catholic pilgrimages, and 
throughout the city there was a state of unspeakable moral 
depression. Certain ones proposed to carry out a general 
mourning. The women immediately adopted this idea; 
that very evening they were all clothed in black. 

The Germans themselves, told everywhere, how "joy- 
ously they had passed the night" at the monastery. It is 
related also in the city, that at the end of the orgy in the 
monastery, the Germans, after having done violence to the 
women, had also offered the basest insults to the members 
of the clergy who were among the hostages and of whom 
was the prior of the monastery of Iasnogor. 



CHAPTER XIX 

THE TRAGEDY OF ARMENIA: THE TURKISH METH- 
ODS OF SPOLIATION, DEPORTATION AND MASSACRE 

In this terrible war, like no other in its horrors and 
destructions, there is one tragedy which stands alone; 
that is, the robbery, deportation, and massacre of the 
Armenians. A million and a half people, from helpless 
infancy to helpless old age, have been robbed and tor- 
tured, deprived of home and estate, and half of them 
have died under circumstances of appalling atrocity 
and cruelty. 

With the success of the Young Turks in 1908, a new 
idea came to the predatory minority that rule and rob 
Turkey. It was "Turkey for the Turks." It was not 
the result of religious fanaticism, although it brought 
into play the fanatical passions of the masses of 
Mohammedans, but on the part of the Government it 
was largely for spoliation and power. 

I asked Talaat Bey, March 10, 191 6 9 how many 
Armenians had been expelled at that time. He said 
about eight hundred thousand. His estimate was too 
low. I talked with former Turkish officials, some of 
whom had resigned rather than carry out the orders 
against the Armenians. What I learned from these 
officials simply proved the accuracy of the innumerable 
reports from Europeans, including consuls, merchants, 
traders, agents of large concerns, missionaries, and 
travelers. It is as impossible to conceal happenings in 
Asia Minor as it would be in New York State. 

390 



THE TRAGEDY OF ARMENIA 

We are to conceive a territory nearly one fifth as 
large as the United States. In this territory, mingling 
with the other races, Greeks, Turks, etc., are the 
Armenian people. The Armenians are energetic and 
intelligent, with a long history, a considerable litera- 
ture, and a highly developed national consciousness. 
Generally they are prosperous. Many are people of 
wealth and refinement — all suffered alike. 

The Armenian nation existed many hundred years 
before the invasion of the Turks. The policy of the 
invading Turks was not to destroy or remove the 
peoples of the nations they invaded, but to exploit 
them, for the Turkish Government is simply a criminal 
organization to rob. 

It is almost impossible to visualize the new Turkish 
methods. While I can find no parallel in history to the 
fate of the Armenians, — and at this moment they are 
in the midst of their crucifixion, — I learned of an 
incident in Constantinople somewhat similar. Some 
years ago the authorities of Constantinople decided to 
get rid of the vast number of dogs that occupied every 
street. Instead of killing them outright they removed 
the dogs to an island on the Sea of Marmora, not far 
from the city, where there was neither food nor water. 
All the dogs perished miserably. An American in 
Constantinople showed me a photograph of the last 
dog, standing on a rock, looking toward Constanti- 
nople. 

Here is the story of eighteen thousand exiles who all 
perished, excepting one hundred and eighty-five, and 
excepting some of the girls who had suffered a fate 
worse than death. 



391 



OBSTACLES TO PEACE 

The Story of Eighteen Thousand Exiles in One 

Caravan 1 

On the 1st day of June three thousand people, mostly 
women, girls, and children, left Harput, accompanied 
by seventy policemen. 

The third day the caravan of exiles reached Tootlykeuy. 
There the Arabs and Kurds began to steal the women and 
girls till they reached the first railway station of Rasulain 
on the Bagdad line. 

On the fifteenth day they were again treading their way 
through the steep mountains, where the Kurds gathered 
one hundred and fifty of the men, aged from fifteen to 
ninety, and taking them to some distance butchered them 
and came back and began to rob the people. 

That day another caravan of exiles, only three hundred of 
whom were men, from Sivas, Egin, Tokat, joined that from 
Harput, thus making a bigger caravan, eighteen thousand all 
counted (almost all women, girls, and children). They 
started on the seventeenth day under the protection of 
another Kurd bey. This bey called out his people, who 
attacked the caravan and robbed them. 

The twenty-fifth day they reached the village of Geulik, 
all the inhabitants of which went a long way with the 
caravan, tormenting and robbing them. The thirty-second 
day they were at the village of Kekhteh. Here they remained 
two days, and again many girls and women were stolen. 

On the fortieth day the caravan saw the river Mourad, a 
branch of the Euphrates. 

The chief of the village near by tolled one lira (five dol- 
lars) from each man as a ransom for not being thrown into 
the river. 

On the fifty-second day they arrived at another village. 
Here the Kurds took from them everything they had, even 
their shirts and drawers, and for five days the whole caravan 

1 It has been necessary to suppress the names of writers for the purpose 
of protecting them. 

892 



THE TRAGEDY OF ARMENIA 

walked all naked under the scorching sun. For another five 
days they did not have a morsel of bread, neither a drop of 
water. They were scorched to death by thirst. 

Hundreds on hundreds fell dead on the way, their tongues 
were turned to charcoal, and when at the end of the fiftieth 
day they reached a fountain the whole caravan naturally 
rushed to it, but the policemen stood in front of them and 
forbade them to take even a drop of water, for they wanted 
to sell the water from one to three lire (five dollars to fifteen 
dollars) the cup, and sometimes even not giving the water 
after getting the money. 

When they came near an Arab village in that naked state, 
the Arabs pitied them and gave them old pieces of clothes 
to be covered with. Some of the exiles who had money left 
bought some clothes. But there were still some left who came 
in that naked state up to the city of Haleb. The poor women 
could not walk for shame; they walked all bent forward. 

In this naked state they had found some ways to keep the 
little money they had. Some kept it in their hair, some in 
their mouths. And when the robbers attacked them some 
were clever enough to search for money in those secret 
places, and that in a very beastly manner, of course. 

On the sixtieth day, when we reached the Viran Shehir, 
only three hundred had remained from the eighteen thou- 
sand exiles. On the sixty-fourth day they gathered all the 
men and the sick women and children and burned and killed 
them all. Those remaining were ordered to continue their 
way. 

On the seventieth day, when they reached Haalep, 
one hundred and eighty-five women and children were 
remaining from the whole caravan of eighteen thou- 
sand. 

The above is a typical story of the experiences of 
the deported Armenians. Each of the seventy days 
had its tragedies. I have selected only a few days. The 
tens of thousands and hundreds of thousands who are 
expelled from their homes undergo similar treatment. 

393 



OBSTACLES TO PEACE 

There are twenty colleges among the Armenians, 
established by Americans. I have visited some of these 
colleges, and have many times addressed the students. 
I have never found more intelligent or more refined or 
better appearing college students in any American 
college. The buildings and the courses of study remind 
one of the typical American college found all over the 
United States. They might be in Illinois or California. 
The teaching faculties include many men and women 
who have been educated in Germany, England, or the 
United States. The colleges form little oases of 
America. 

I give typical narratives of experiences in some of 
these institutions. It must be understood that it is the 
teachers of Armenian nationality who suffer. 

Town of H. : Statement by the Principal of the College, dated 
19th July, 1915; communicated by the American Com- 
mittee for Armenian and Syrian Relief 

I shall try to banish from my mind for the time the sense 
of great personal sorrow at losing hundreds of my friends 
here, and also my sense of utter defeat in being so unable to 
stop the awful tragedy or even mitigate to any degree its 
severity, and compel myself to give you concisely some of 
the cold facts of the past months, as they relate themselves 
to the College. I do so with the hope that the possession of 
these concrete facts may help you to do something there for 
the handful of dependents still left to us here. 

Buildings. Seven of our big buildings are in the hands of 
the Government, only one remaining in our hands. The 
seven buildings in question are empty, except for twenty 
guards who are stationed there. I cannot tell you exactly 
the amount of loss we have sustained in money by robberies, 
breakages, and other means, and there is no sign that the 
Turks will ever return these buildings to us. 

394 



THE TRAGEDY OF ARMENIA 

Constituency. Approximately two thirds of the girl pupils 
and six sevenths of the boys have been taken away to death, 
exile, or Moslem homes. 

Professors. Four gone, three left, as follows: — 

Professor A. Served College thirty-five years; representa- 
tive of the Americans with the Government; Protestant, 
Professor of Turkish and History. Besides previous trouble, 
arrested May 1 without charge; hair of head, mustache and 
beard pulled out, in vain effort to secure damaging confes- 
sions; starved and hung by arms for a day and a night, and 
severely beaten several times; taken out towards Diyarbekir 
about June 20, and murdered in general massacre on the 
road. 

Professor B. Served College thirty- three years; studied 
at Ann Arbor; Professor of Mathematics. Arrested about 
June 5, and shared Professor A.'s fate on the road. 

Professor C. Taken to witness a man beaten almost to 
death; became mentally deranged; started with his family 
about July 5 into exile under guard, and murdered beyond 
Malatia. Principal of Preparatory Department; studied at 
Princeton; served College twenty years. 

Professor t). Served College sixteen years; studied at 
Edinburgh; Professor of Mental and Moral Science. Ar- 
rested with Professor A. and suffered same tortures; also 
had three finger nails pulled out by the roots; killed in same 
massacre. 

Professor E. Served College twenty -five years. Arrested 
May 1 ; not tortured, but sick in prison; sent to Red Crescent 
Hospital, and after paying large bribes is now free. 

Professor F. Served College for over fifteen years; studied 
in Stuttgart and Berlin; Professor of Music. Escaped arrest 
and torture, and thus far escaped exile and death, because of 
favor with the Kaimakam secured by personal services 
rendered. 

Professor G. Served College about fifteen years; studied 
at Cornell and Yale (M.S.) ; Professor of Biology. Arrested 
about June 5 ; beaten about the hands, body, and head with 
a stick by the Kaimakam himself, who, when tired, called on 
all who loved religion and the nation to continue the beat- 

395 



OBSTACLES TO PEACE 

ing; after a period of insensibility in a dark closet, taken to 
the Red Crescent Hospital with a broken finger and serious 
bruises. Now free. 

Instructors, male. Four, whose average term of service is 
eight years reported killed on the road in various massacres. 
Inree not heard from, probably killed on the road; average 
term of service in the College, four years. Two sick in the 
American Hospital. One elsewhere. One, engaged in cabinet 
work lor the Kaimakam, free. One, owner of house occupied 
by the Kaimakam, free. 

Instructors, female. One reported killed in R; served the 
College over twenty years. One reported taken to a Turkish 
harem. Three not heard from. Four started out as exiles, 
len tree. 

Total loss. About seven eighths of the buildings, three 
quarters of the students, and half the teaching staff. 

Of the Armenian people as a whole we may estimate that 
three fourths are gone, and this three fourths includes the 
leaders m every walk of life - merchants, professional men, 
preachers, bishops and government officials. 

I have said enough. Our hearts are sick with these sights 
and stories of abject terror and suffering. The extermina- 
tion of the race seems to be the object, and the means em- 
ployed are more fiendish than could be concocted locally. 
Ihe orders are from headquarters, and any reprieve must 
be Irom the same source. All the Armenian young men 
in the town were arrested and terrorized by infernal tor- 
ments. 

e The majority of the young Armenians who were treated 
in this way were pupils of the American College, the French 
College, and the Central Armenian School. 

In July all Armenian families of any standing in G. were 
compelled to emigrate. The arrests of the young men had 
been effected at night-time, but the deportation of these 
wealthy lamihes was carried out in full daylight. 

These individuals were taken a distance of twenty kilo- 
metres and then slaughtered without pity, like cattle, on 
the banks of a river and their corpses thrown into the water 
As lor the rest, the men were separated from the women and 

396 



THE TRAGEDY OF ARMENIA 

cruelly murdered by blows of the axe. The women and girls 
were carried off by the Kurds and Turks. 

All the professors and schoolmasters were also imprisoned 
and subsequently assassinated, at the same time as the 
young men. Those, however, who were connected with 
German institutions were happily excepted. 

M amour et-ul- Aziz 

Shortly after last Easter (1915), the Turkish officials 
searched the Armenian churches and schools of G., H., C, 
AQ., AR., AS., and the surrounding villages, but without 
finding anything incriminating. 

After that, they arrested from the town of C. the following 
persons; Professor B., Mr. H. and his brother J., Mr. O. and 
his son P., Mr. Q., the brothers R., the brothers S., and T. 
Effendi, as well as many others, old and young. They took 
them to the house of V. Agha, stripped them one by one and 
gave them three hundred lashes on their backs. When they 
fainted, they threw them into a stable and waited until they 
had revived, in order to beat them again. 

After beating T. Effendi in H., and tearing out his finger 
nails and the flesh of his hands and feet, they put a rope 
under his arms, dragged him to C, and threw him into 
prison. Then they entered his house, and, on the pretense of 
searching it, made his wife, who was in indifferent health, 
lie on the ground; a soldier sat on her, and they began to 
beat her on her feet, asking her where they had hidden their 
arms. After a few days her husband died in the prison. 

In C. they beat many young men to get their arms, so that 
they were obliged to buy arms from the Turks and give 
them to the Government. 

They plucked out the hair and nails of some of the pro- 
fessors. They dug out their eyes and branded them with red- 
hot irons, so that some of them died immediately, and others 
first lost their reason and died thereafter. 
j. The Bishop of H.,C.J.,and other prominent Armenians 
were imprisoned and suffered many cruelties. 

397 



OBSTACLES TO PEACE 

At Aleppo 

At Aleppo were the remnants of five thousand exiles who 
had started from Kharput. Among them were many intelli- 
gent and refined young women who had graduated from 
Constantinople College and the Euphrates College. Their 
treatment at the hands of the gendarmes, and their fate as 
occupants of harems, are almost unthinkable. When the 
refugees came to cross the rivers that flow into the Eu- 
phrates, the able-bodied men were drowned. Further on, 
the survivors, now only old men, women, and children, were 
stripped of all their clothing. Naked, they waded through 
streams, slept in the chilly nights, and bore the heat of the 
sun. They were brought into Aleppo for the last few miles in 
third-class railway carriages, herded together like so many 
animals. When the doors of the carriages were opened they 
were jeered at by the populace for their nakedness. Of the 
G.ve thousand that had started from Kharput only two hun- 
dred and thirteen were left ! 

Marash 

In Marash an orphanage had to be given up to the Turks, 
who turned it over to men. Its occupants were girls and 
young women, made orphans by the massacres of 1909 and 
preceding years. Many of them were cultured young women. 
The condition of those not yet dead is worse than death 
itself. In a German orphanage at Marash there were more 
than one thousand girls. The order for expatriation came, 
and, in order that she might shield a few of the older girls, 
the head mistress kept them under her own protection. Soon 
there came a telegram from the German Consul at Aleppo, 
saying: "You have hidden some girls. You have no busi- 
ness to do such a thing. Give them up." The girls had to be 
given up, and were taken away to suffer the inevitable at the 
hands of their Turkish masters. This so angered the head 
mistress that she went to Constantinople to protest to the 
German Ambassador. She tried repeatedly to interview him 
on the subject, but failed every time. She was told curtly 

398 



THE TRAGEDY OF ARMENIA 

that it was none of her business. Broken-hearted, she re- 
turned to do what little relief work might be possible. 

The following document gives the results of the 
deportations in certain provinces. Although limited to 
the provinces known to the writer of the document, he 
describes the general result of the deportations and 
massacres. 

One Turkish official, who was worn out with the 
work of deportation, remarked that the work in Tur- 
key was different from such work in Europe, for all the 
officials had to do there was to put people on trains 
and send them away! 

Results of deportations in certain provinces 

It is now established that there is not an Armenian left in 
the provinces of Erzeroum, Trebizond, Sivas, Harput, 
Bitlis, and Diyarbekir. About a million of the Armenian 
inhabitants of these provinces have been deported from their 
homes and sent southwards into exile. These deportations 
have been carried out very systematically by the local au- 
thorities since the beginning of April last. First of all, in 
every village and every town the population was disarmed 
by the gendarmerie, and by criminals released for this pur- 
pose from prison. On the pretext of disarming the Armen- 
ians, these criminals committed assassinations and inflicted 
hideous tortures. . . . The highest official, as well as the 
most simple peasant, chose out the woman or girl who caught 
his fancy, and took her to wife, converting her by force to 
Islam. As for the children the Moslems took as many of 
them as they wanted, and then the remnant of the Armen- 
ians were marched away, famished and destitute of provis- 
ions, to fall victims to hunger, unless that were anticipated 
by the savagery of the brigand bands. In the province of 
Diyarbekir there was an outright massacre, especially at 
Mardin, and the population was subjected to all the afore- 
mentioned atrocities. . . . 

399 



OBSTACLES TO PEACE 

The Armenian soldiers too, have suffered the same fate. 
They were also all disarmed and put to constructing roads. 
We have certain knowledge that the Armenian soldiers of 
the province of Erzeroum, who were at work on the road 
from Erzeroum to Erzindjan, have all been massacred. 
The Armenian soldiers of the province of Diyarbekir have 
all been massacred on the Diyarbekir-Durfa road, and the 
Diyarbekir-Harput road. From Harput alone, eighteen 
hundred young Armenians were enrolled and sent off to 
work at Diyarbekir; all were massacred in the neighborhood 
of Arghana. We have no news from the other districts, but 
they have assuredly suffered the same fate there also. 

The following extracts are from authenticated docu- 
ments. They are typical of the whole mass of docu- 
ments, and do not exaggerate the impression one gets 
if he examines all the data : — 

Bitlisy Moush, and Sassoun 

The shortest method for disposing of the women and chil- 
dren concentrated in the various camps was to burn them. 
Fire was set to large wooden sheds in Alidjan, Megrakon, 
Khaskegh, and other Armenian villages, and these abso- 
lutely helpless women and children were roasted to death. 
Many went mad and threw their children away; some knelt 
down and prayed amid the flames in which their bodies were 
burning; others shrieked and cried for help which came from 
nowhere. And the executioners, who seem to have been un- 
moved by this unparalleled savagery, grasped infants by one 
leg and hurled them into the fire, calling out to the burning 
mothers: "Here are your lions." Turkish prisoners who had 
apparently witnessed some of these scenes were horrified 
and maddened at remembering the sight. They told the 
Russians that the stench of the burning human flesh per- 
meated the air for many days after. 



400 



THE TRAGEDY OF ARMENIA 

Moush district 

All the old women and the weak who were unable to walk 
were killed. There were about one hundred Kurdish guards 
over us, and our lives depended on their pleasure. It was a 
very common thing for them to rape our girls in our pres- 
ence. Very often they violated eight- or ten- year-old girls, 
and as a consequence many would be unable to walk, and 
were shot. 

Baibourt 

The worst and most unimaginable horrors were reserved 
for us at the banks of the Euphrates and in the Erzindjan 
plain. The mutilated bodies of women, girls, and little chil- 
dren made everybody shudder. The brigands were doing 
all sorts of awful deeds to the women and girls that were with 
us, whose cries went up to heaven. At the Euphrates, the 
brigands and gendarmes threw into the river all the remain- 
ing children under fifteen years old. Those that could swim 
were shot down as they struggled in the water. 

Report of July 11, 1915 from H. 

On the Monday many men were arrested, both at H. 
and S., and put in prison. 

On the Wednesday morning they were taken to a valley 
a few hours distant, where they were all made to sit down. 
Then the gendarmes began shooting them, until they had 
killed nearly all of them. Some who had not been killed by 
bullets were then disposed of with knives and bayonets. 
Among those who were killed was the treasurer of the Col- 
lege. Many other estimable men were among the number. 
[Extract.] 

Trebizond 

On Saturday, the 26th June, the proclamation regarding 

the deportation of all Armenians was posted in the streets. 

The weeping and wailing of the women and children was 

401 



OBSTACLES TO PEACE 

most heartrending. Some of these people were from wealthy 
and refined circles. Some were accustomed to luxury and 
ease. There were clergymen, merchants, bankers, lawyers 
mechanics, tailors, and men from every walk of life. 

The whole Mohammedan population knew that these 
people were to be their prey from the beginning, and they 
were treated as criminals. 

The best-looking of the older girls, who were retained as 
caretakers in these orphanages, are kept in houses for the 
pleasure of members of the gang which seems to rule affairs 
here. I hear on good authority that a member of the Com- 
mittee of Union and Progress here has ten of the handsomest 
girls in a house in the central part of the city, for the use of 
himself and his friends. 

Trebizond: Extracts from an interview with Comm. G. Gorrini, 
late Italian Consul-General at Trebizond, published in 
the Journal "II Messaggero" of Rome, 25th August, 1915 

From the 24th June, the date of the publication of the 
infamous decree, until the 23d July, the date of my own 
departure from Trebizond, I no longer slept or ate; I was 
given over to nerves and nausea, so terrible was the torment 
of having to look on at the wholesale execution of these 
defenseless, innocent creatures. 

The passing of the gangs of Armenian exiles beneath the 
windows and before the door of the Consulate; their prayers 
for help, when neither I nor any other could do anything to 
answer them; the city in a state of siege, guarded at every 
point by fifteen thousand troops in complete war equip- 
ment, by thousands of police agents, by bands of volunteers 
and by the members of the "Committee of Union and 
Progress"; the lamentations, the tears, the abandonments, 
the imprecations, the many suicides, the instantaneous 
deaths from sheer terror, the sudden unhinging of men's 
reason, the conflagrations, the shooting of victims in the 
city, the ruthless searches through the houses and in the 
countryside; the hundreds of corpses found every day along 
the exile road; the young women converted by force to 

402 



THE TRAGEDY OF ARMENIA 

Islam or exiled like the rest; the children torn away from 
their families or from the Christian schools, and handed over 
by force to Moslem families, or else placed by hundreds on 
board ship in nothing but their shirts, and then capsized and 
drowned in the Black Sea and the river Deyirmen Dere — 
these are my last ineffaceable memories of Trebizond, memo- 
ries which still, at a months' distance, torment my soul and 
almost drive me frantic. 

Proclamation by the Turkish Government 

Early in the spring of 1915 the following proclama- 
tion was sent to all the officials in the interior of 
Turkey : — 

First. All Armenians, with the exception of the sick, shall 
leave their villages or quarters, under the escort of the gen- 
darmerie, within five days from the date of this proclama- 
tion. 

Second. Though they are free to carry with them on their 
journey such articles of movable property as they may de- 
sire, they are forbidden to sell their lands or their extra 
effects, or to leave the latter with other persons, as their 
exile is only temporary, and their landed property and the 
effects they are unable to take with them will be taken care 
of under supervision of the Government, and stored in pro- 
tected buildings. Any one who sells or attempts to dispose 
of his movable effects or landed property in a manner con- 
trary to this order, shall be tried by court-martial. Persons 
are free to sell to the Government only such articles as may 
answer the needs of the army. . . . 

The fifth clause reads : — 

Since the Armenians are obliged to submit to the decision 
of the Government, if any of them attempt to resist the sol- 
diers or gendarmes by force of arms, arms shall be used 
against them, and they shall be taken dead or alive. In like 
manner, those who, in opposition to the Government's deci- 
sion, refrain from leaving or seek to hide themselves, shall 

403 



OBSTACLES TO PEACE 

be sent before a court martial; and if they are sheltered or 
given food and assistance, the persons who shelter or aid 
them shall be sent before the court martial for execution. 
[Extracts.] 

Such was the order in accordance with which all 
these things were done. 



CHAPTER XX 

ALLEGED ATJSTROHUNGARIAN ATROCITIES 
IN SERVIA 

In 1910 I became acquainted with Professor R. A. 
Reiss, of the University of Lausanne. I formed a high 
opinion of him. He is regarded as a distinguished man 
of science and a skilled investigator. From personal 
investigations in Servia, he has compiled a report of 
the extraordinary cruelties of the invading armies. 
He visited Belgrade, Schabatz, and Loznitza while they 
were under fire. 

I give here a few extracts from his report. 

Houses were set on fire and people roasted to death. 
Fires were lit under the beds of the wounded. Women, 
children, and old men were put in front of the Aus- 
trian fighting line during battle, and mention is made 
of women being compelled to march with the soldiers 
within two days after their children had been born. 
Churches were utilized for the vilest and most de- 
grading practices. Some families were pinioned to- 
gether and buried in ditches with their dogs. 

Massacres of civilians 

There are many cases of the abduction of young girls and 
their detention for days at a time by the enemy. Officers 
as well as men were guilty of these outrages, but the offi- 
cers did not go to the same extreme as they permitted the 
privates in the wbrst orgies of lust and drunkenness. 

A private of the Seventy-ninth Regiment said that near 
Drenovatz the Austrian officers made a ring of twenty-six 

405 



OBSTACLES TO PEACE 

persons round a house and then set fire to the house, thus 
burning the twenty-six victims. 

At the same town the Austrians arrested five hundred 
to six hundred women and girls and kept them at the hotel 
for four days for the pleasure of the soldiers. 

In the three districts of Polzerie, Matchva, and Yadar, 
the various kinds of death and torture inflicted were appor- 
tioned as follows: — 

Males Females 

Victims shot 345 64 

Victims killed with knives 113 27 

Victims hanged 7 6 

Victims massacred and clubbed to death with sticks and 

butt-ends of rifles 48 2 

Victims disemboweled 2 4 

Victims burned alive 35 96 

Victims pinioned and robbed 52 12 

Victims whose arms were cut off, torn off or broken 5 1 

Victims whose noses were cut off 28 6 

Victims whose ears were cut off 31 7 

Victims whose eyes were put out 30 38 

Victims whose genital organs were mutilated 3 3 

Victims whose skin was cut in strips, or portions of their 

face detached 15 3 

Victims stoned 12 1 

Victims whose breasts were cut off 2 

Victims cut in pieces 17 16 

Victims beheaded 1 

Little girl thrown to the pigs 1 

Victims killed without the manner of their deaths being 

specified 240 55 

Summing up the evidence Professor Reiss says : — 

The number of victims — children, women, young men, 
and old men — amounts to a comparatively high percen- 
tage of the population of the territory invaded. . . . Once 
the bloodthirsty and Sadie brute was unchained and let 
loose by his superiors, the work of destruction was duly 
carried out by men who are fathers of families and probably 
kindly in private life. 

I add to this trustworthy account of the alleged 
atrocities of the Austro-Hungarian Army in Servia 
a description of the sinking of the Ancona, written by 

406 



AUSTRO-HUNGARIAN ATROCITIES IN SERVIA 

Dr. Cecile Greil, an American woman, for the New 
York "Times." All the survivors testify that there 
was no warning from the submarine for the vessel to 
stop. The submarine began to shell the ship imme- 
diately. Dr. Greil says : — 

A terrific vibration shook the ship. I was thrown back 
into my seat. I knew that the ship must be stopping. I 
heard a running and scurrying about the deck outside. 
Looking out, I saw, through the dining-saloon window, six 
or ten stewards in white whirling out of sight around an 
angle. 

The submarine stood out in clear, black outline against 
the white background of mist. 

I went toward the bow of the ship. I descended the stair- 
case to the second cabin, on the way to the purser's office. 
A large part of the staircase had been shot away — and 
the horror of what I saw at the bottom of it made me in- 
stantly forget what I was going for. There lay three or four 
women, four or five children, and several men. Some of 
them were already dead, all, at least, badly wounded. I 
made sure two of the children were dead. The purser 
sprawled limply across his desk, inert, like a sack of meal 
that has been flung down and stays where it lies. He had 
been shot in the head. The blood was running bright like 
red paint, freshly spilt, down his back, and his hair was 
matted with it. 

The first series of shots had wrecked this part of the ship, 
breaking through and carrying away whole sections of the 
framework. I tried to get back up the stairs. But in the 
slight interval of time I had consumed, enough additional 
shells had been discharged to finish the wreck of the stair- 
case. Seeing my exit that way cut off, I started through the 
second cabin to go up the central stairway. The sight that 
I ran into there was indescribable. All the passengers from 
the third cabin had rushed up into the second. They had 
altogether lost their wits. The only thing that was left 
them was the animal instinct for self-preservation in its 

407 



OBSTACLES TO PEACE 

most disastrous and most idiotic form. Men, women, and 
children were burrowing head-foremost under chairs and 
benches and tables. 

All the while the detonations, like continuous thunder 
and lightning, increased the panic. Women were on their 
knees in mental agony, each supplicating the particular 
saint of the part of the country from which she came to 
save her from death. 

A boat was being lowered. It had been swung out on the 
davits. It already seethed full of people. And more men 
and women and children were fighting, in a promiscuous, 
shrieking mass, to get into it as it swung out and down. 
The men, with their superior strength, were, of course, 
getting the best of the struggle. Age or sex had no weight. 
It was brute strength that prevailed. 

Others flung their bodies pell-mell on the heads of those 
already overboard. Some, in their frenzy, missed the mark 
at which they aimed themselves and fell into the sea. To 
make the horror complete, the boat now stuck at one end, 
tilted downward, and spilled all its occupants into the sea, 
ninety or a hundred at once. They seized each other. Some 
swam. Others floundered and sank almost immediately, 
dragging each other down. Some drowned themselves even 
with lifebelts on, not knowing how to hold their Jieads out 
of the water. 

I saw one man who had started to run up the gangway 
to the officer's deck come plunging down again. He had 
been struck in the back of the head. 

In my cabin I flung up the top of my steamer trunk. As 
I was searching for my valuables my chambermaid appeared 
in the doorway; half a dozen times I had met her rushing 
frantically and aimlessly up and down. 

"Oh, madame, madame — we shall all be killed, we're 
all going to get killed!" 

"Maria," I advised as quietly and soothingly as I could, 
still stooping over my trunk; "don't be so mad, get a life- 
belt on, and get up out of here." 

Before she could speak again she was a dead woman. A 
shot carried away the porthole and sheared off the top of 

408 



AUSTRO-HUNGARIAN ATROCITIES IN SERVIA 

her head. It finished its course by exploding at the other 
side of the ship. If I had not been stooping over at the time 
I would not have lived to write this story. 

When I got up on deck I saw the submarine carefully 
circumnavigating its victims and deliberately shooting 
toward us at all angles. I ran along the deck. The sea was 
full of deck rails, parts of doors, and other wreckage, and 
dotted with human beings, some dead, others alive, and 
screaming for help. There was another boat in front that 
tilted and dumped out its frantic load into the sea. Peering 
over the side of the ship, I saw a boat that had already been 
lowered to the water's edge. In it I recognized the two 
ship's doctors, and two of the seamen. There was also an 
officer in the boat, Carlo Lamberti, the chief engineer. He 
sat at the helm. I called out to them to take me in. 

"Jump!" they shouted back. 

I escaped with a ducking. 

An immigrant girl who followed me flung herself down 
wildly and broke both her legs on the side of the ship. 

Then the torpedo was discharged. It whizzed across the 
ship, drawing a tail behind it like a comet. It plunged be- 
neath the Ancona as if guided by a diabolical intelligence 
of its own. There followed a terrific explosion. Huge jets 
of thick black smoke shot up, with showers of debris. Our 
boat rocked and swayed in the roughened water. The 
Ancona lurched to the left, righted herself, shivered a mo- 
ment — then her bow shot high in the air like a struggling, 
death-stricken animal. She went under, drawing a huge, 
funnel -like vortex after her. There were many people 
wounded, so that they could not get off unaided. They were 
left to die. 

Over two hundred men, women and children per- 
ished miserably. 

Let us pause a moment to consider this scene, with 
the murder, by shell fire and drowning, of two hun- 
dred human beings. Such a deed is not unparalleled 
in atrociousness. The records of the destruction of the 

409 



OBSTACLES TO PEACE 

Armenians describe events that are even more ter- 
rible. Still, I think that all will agree that the Turkish 
Government need not be ashamed of the Austro- 
Hungarian Government. 



CHAPTER XXI 

ENGLAND 

I propose to give a picture of the general feeling in 
England: As to the Germans and Germany; as to the 
navy; as to tariffs; as to labor and capital; as to France; 
as to terms of peace. 

To understand the attitude of England in regard to 
all these questions, it is essential first of all to under- 
stand her feeling toward the Germans and Germany. 
The impressions I received on this point are the result 
of contact with English people whom I visited, with 
the more important heads of industry and business 
men, with editors, and with people in general. 

I was spending a week-end at the home of a family 
whose name is known all over the world, and my host- 
ess was speaking about the feeling of England with 
regard to Germany. After an extraordinary series of 
statements she ended up with this, that she wanted 
Berlin razed to the ground and a wall built around it. 
Another lady, a member of the household, turned to 
me apologetically and rather remonstrated with the 
hostess for her extreme views, and then, trying to 
explain to me, she said: "You know, Mr. McClure, 
we look upon the Germans as something like gorillas." 

I was then taken to a library where there were book- 
shelves lining one side of the room. My hostess pulled 
out what was apparently shelves of books, and it was 
really a door, and behind it was a large closet, almost a 
room, and she showed me there a loaded revolver. She 
said that if the Germans should come the women 

411 



OBSTACLES TO PEACE 

would go into the closet, and if discovered they would 
shoot themselves. I was telling this to friends in Lon- 
don, and they said, "Certainly; our women are pre- 
pared to shoot themselves rather than fall into the 
hands of the Germans, if by any chance there should 
be an invasion of England." 

At bottom the feeling in England is one rather of 
horror and disappointment than of hatred. When I 
was in Belgium I was told of the mass of material col- 
lected by Professor Jean Massart, dealing with the 
experiences of the Belgian people during the invasion 
and the first year of occupation. This book is now 
published; it is much more illuminating than the Bryce 
Report, and has greatly deepened the feeling in Eng- 
land in regard to the invasion of Belgium. This is only 
one of a mass of publications, in English and French, 
which, together with such acts as the execution of 
Captain Fryatt and the Lille deportations, have hard- 
ened the determination of England; and there is no 
doubt but that the effect of these things on the public 
mind is such as greatly to lengthen the war. 

I was talking to a man of great shipping interests 
about Captain Fryatt, who had dodged the submarines 
and brought his ship back safely from many voyages. 
He was given a gold watch by his Company, the Great 
Eastern Railway Company; and this man said that 
later on Captain Fryatt was faced by a submarine 
which he tried to ram, and he received a watch from 
the Admiralty in recognition of his splendid seaman- 
ship. "He had not sunk a submarine/' he said, "but 
had protected his property in the only way he could." 
This man said that the execution of Captain Fryatt 
had made a more profound impression in all shipping 

412 



ENGLAND 

and business circles than almost any other single 
event, and would greatly harden the terms of peace 
which England would impose. Then he went on to say 
that in the first few months of the war there was no 
special feeling against the Germans by the English, 
but that the sinking of the Lusitania and the Bryce 
Report and other similar things had brought about 
the present state of feeling; and he added: "You know, 
it is not so much hatred we feel to the Germans; we 
look upon them as we might look upon snakes." This 
man's name is known widely in America as well as in 
England. He expressed the average thought of indus- 
trial and shipping England. 

The Reverend A. J. Campbell, one of the foremost 
preachers of England, said : — 

Germany is a unique moral phenomenon, a case of deprav- 
ity on a grand scale, engendered by forty years' worship of 
the blood-god. We may as well appeal to the finer instincts 
of a Bengal tiger as try to make this people realize its offense 
against all that is high and noble in the relations of states 
and individuals. 

Germany is a criminal nation, and ought to be treated as 
criminals are treated in any civilized community on earth. 
The criminal fears for his skin and nothing else. 

An American lady, a writer who has written for 
"McClure's Magazine/' was reading me a poem by 
the great Belgian poet, a Belgian cradle song, and the 
last line was, " O Lord ! Deliver us from the Germans " ; 
she stopped and in the most intense fashion, her eyes 
shining with tears, she said: "That is the prayer of 
every woman and girl in England, Belgium, and 
France." 

In addition to the published material on this topic, 

413 



OBSTACLES TO PEACE 

there is a constant body of new information coming 
by word of mouth. I am told that Lord Bryce was very 
skeptical in regard to the Belgian atrocities when he 
began investigation. His feeling now is as strong as 
that of any one I have met. Besides, there are numer- 
ous documents of a more terrible sort, which have not 
been published, but are in the hands of the Govern- 
ment. Those have been seen by various people and 
have had a tremendous effect. 

I had an interview with Lord Cromer — a man 
whose services to the Empire in India and Egypt have 
given him an imperial outlook and a thorough grasp 
of the world-problems involved in this war. He talked 
about the real issue of the war — the future of the 
East, especially the questions of the Balkans and Asia 
Minor. "But," he said, "it is not these matters that 
aroused England. Lord Beaconsfield said that the 
English are a sentimental people. It is such things as 
the treatment of Belgium, the Lusitania, the Zeppelin 
raids, Edith Cavell, and now Captain Fryatt and the 
deportations from Lille, that have reached the ulti- 
mate elements of our people, and have aroused and 
unified England and the Empire." 

Another man of the widest information said to me; 
"Put the Zeppelin first. The Zeppelins spoke 7 to the 
masses in the North, who disbelieved London and the 
Government." 

"We shall not forget," another official said to me, 
and his manner meant more than his words. The anni- 
versary of the war, August 4, 1916, reminded people 
that they might have failed in 1914 and remained out 
of the war. This they feel would have meant spiritual 
death and moral degradation. 

414 



ENGLAND 

At the present time all ordinary notions of a navy 
have passed away. Great Britain possesses vastly 
more sea power than she had at the beginning of the 
war. Two thirds of the engineering ability of the 
Empire is devoted to building new navies. The people 
recognize the numerous and tremendous duties of the 
navy, which they regard as vital to the existence of 
England and of the Empire. 

Recently Mr. Balfour visited the naval works on the 
Clyde. He spoke little of the tremendous power of the 
navy at the present time, but the keynote of his speech 
was this: "It is magnificent, and I am here to tell you 
that splendid and magnificent though it be, we of the 
Admiralty call for yet more." He then reviewed the 
work of the navy and of the mercantile marine, forty- 
two per cent of which is occupied directly in war work, 
carrying on their great military operations. Ten per 
cent of the mercantile marine is at the service of the 
Allies. So far as naval power is concerned, one may 
state that at the end of this war, whenever it may 
come, Great Britain will possess a great navy, the 
power and extent of which are almost unimaginable. 

A high Admiralty official said to me : — 

England is a fortress with her communications on the sea. 
Cut her communications and she starves. England is the 
citadel of the Empire. Starve the citadel and the outlying 
nations and dominions cannot remain free. England has a 
great army, splendidly trained and equipped, but she has 
what is more vital, a super-navy. The navy has doubled in 
personnel in two years, and in one river we are now building 
a complete navy, battleships, battle cruisers, cruisers, tor- 
pedo boats, and submarines, equal to a third-class navy. 
And in other places we are building an enormous number of 
warships of all classes. A million men, with the finest en- 

415 



OBSTACLES TO PEACE 

gineering talent and best machinery, work solely for the 
navy. 

We have only begun warfare against the submarine, and 
already one hundred thousand picked men, with three thou- 
sand submarine destroyers and submarine traps that could 
make a complete barrier from Dover to New York, make 
the life of an enemy submarine that of a hunted creature, 
from the time it enters the North Sea. Millions of men have 
crossed to France, back and forth, and not one lost, millions 
of tons of supplies, munitions, coal, and steel are shipped 
every month to France with absolute safety. Our transport 
system is equal to the navy in organization. 

The existence of England, the well-being of the Empire, 
depend on our control of the sea. We will end the war with 
an unconquerable navy. 

The navy is to us what the air-tube is to the diver. 

The question of the submarine has caused great 
naval activities. In the month of July, 1914, when 
there was not the slightest appearance of a European 
war, Sir Percy Scott, one of the greatest naval authori- 
ties in England, wrote a letter to the "Times" uphold- 
ing the belief that there was no use in building battle- 
ships, that the submarine put an end to the usefulness 
of warships of all kinds; and many people believed as 
he did. To master the submarine, therefore, was a 
thing of vital necessity to England, and the ablest 
minds of the Empire, cooperating with Admiral 
Jellicoe, set out to solve this question. 

A merchant, a strong free-trader whom I inter- 
viewed, pooh-poohed the idea that enmity would pre- 
vent trading after the war; but he said: "I cannot 
imagine any German being allowed to come to England 
to sell goods, nor can I imagine any Englishman acting 
as an agent for German goods. Germany will be the 
social pariah for thirty years." 

416 



ENGLAND 

The feeling in regard to Germany has much to do 
with opinions as to tariffs after the war and with the 
attitude of labor and capital. There is a strong body 
of opinion somewhat like this: England has been a 
country built up on the policy of free trade. In this 
great war she has been able not only to maintain 
colossal armies and colossal fleets, naval and mercan- 
tile, but to furnish material and money to her allies on a 
scale hitherto undreamed of. England has borrowed a 
few hundred million dollars in America, but meantime 
she has loaned four thousand million dollars to her 
allies. This, they say, is one of the results of her free- 
trade policy; they say there is no bottom to her re- 
sources, and further, that if after the war England puts 
on protective tariffs, she really will have lost the war. 
The arguments given by those in favor of the imposi- 
tion of tariffs receive a considerable backing on account 
of hostility to Germany. 

In regard to relations of labor and capital, two ideas 
dominate. One is that labor must be sure of a proper 
share of the profits from industry, and also of proper 
conditions for work; and secondly, that labor and cap- 
ital must cooperate so as to produce as much as possi- 
ble. These ideas dominate all discussions in regard to 
labor and capital. 

Whatever the outcome of the war, an entirely new 
body of beliefs and ideals in social, political, and indus- 
trial activities will dominate England. 

First of all, woman suffrage is absolutely sure. No 
one speaks differently; they all say that women have 
shown their right to vote. I remarked to one of the 
best-informed editors in London that we should soon 
have universal woman suffrage in the United States; 

417 



OBSTACLES TO PEACE 

his reply was that they would have it in England before 
we had it. Suffrage is obtained by men in England on 
very moderate terms. Even these restrictions now will 
be abolished. The universal saying is that if a man is 
fit to fight he is fit to vote, and one member of Parlia- 
ment interjected into a serious debate this remark: 
"One gun, one vote." 

Universal suffrage, therefore, for both men and 
women is immediately imminent in England. In a 
recent speech Mr. Asquith said : — 

I say to the House quite candidly, as a lifelong opponent 
of woman suffrage, I cannot deny that claim. 

This comes, however, as a part of a larger condition 
in the general uplift of all workers. 

With this also comes the expansion of new and more 
profitable and more important fields of labor for 
women. Several times I have seen women driving huge 
delivery wagons or trucks on the streets. A large share 
of the conductors of busses are women. Perhaps the 
most striking illustration of the new work for women is 
the employment of women waitresses in the London 
clubs; and club members in general say that they do 
not want to change after the war, and some one said 
it did not seem to be a real man's work to be a waiter 
in a club. That in part arises from the new attitude 
toward work as work. Work is now highly honorable, 
leisure is not. 

Probably ^ve million women were gainfully em- 
ployed before the war, and at the present time from 
half to three quarters of a million additional are em- 
ployed; so that it is not so much the increase in num- 
bers of women workers that has revolutionized thought 

418 



ENGLAND 

about woman's work, as the advance in their work. 
Women workers, like every other class of workers in 
England, have been advanced in the kind of work per- 
formed by them. When a million men have been with- 
drawn from industry, a million men and women have 
been called up from somewhere lower down to take 
their place. 

The most striking employment of women has been 
in munition factories, where they have done marvelous 
work; they have been indispensable. In one munition 
center, manufacturing near London, there are ten 
thousand five hundred women and they are trying to 
raise the number to thirty thousand in that one fac- 
tory. 

After working two months in munition factories, a 
woman gets a triangular badge marked "On War 
Service." One finds the same spirit among these women 
as one finds among the five million volunteers. They 
are drawn from every class of society, from the highest 
to the lowest. It is like a volunteer war mobilization; 
and these women who have once tasted the joy of 
achievement and the independence of a good income 
are not going back to idleness any more than the sub- 
merged men who have been advanced from lower to 
higher levels of employment. The most astonishing 
thing is the aspect of these women workers. They give 
the impression of being well, strong, happy, glad to be 
at work and proud of their achievement. 

Lloyd George says : — 

And these women, these young girls, submit cheerfully to 
long hours, to hard work, to monotonous work, so that they 
may "beat the Germans." Many of the firms that engage 
them have never employed women before; many that em- 

419 



OBSTACLES TO PEACE 

ployed tens, now employ hundreds of thousands. The change 
has been sudden. 

Lord Haldane told me an illustrative anecdote of a 
house-party in Scotland. A young lady excused herself 
at half-past nine o'clock. Lord Haldane asked her 
why she was going so early. She said she was on the 
night shift. This girl, the daughter of a wealthy and 
noble family, was working nights in a munition factory. 

The question of trade-unionism for women is immi- 
nent. Aside from household servants there are two 
and a half million women workers in England, and 
including household servants there are five and a half 
million; but to-day there are only two hundred and 
fifty thousand women in trade-unions. 

The change in labor circles is extraordinary. "This 
war has saved trade-unionism," a member of the Min- 
istry said yesterday. A new motto is being discussed, 
— "The greatest possible output for the highest pos- 
sible wages." 

Mr. John Hodge, M.P., who until recently was act- 
ing chairman of the Parliamentary Labor Party, and 
is one of the most enlightened and courageous labor 
leaders in the country, said in an interview : — 

There is no doubt that the policy of restriction of output 
which many trade-unionists have had to adopt in their own 
defense is economically quite unsound, and we must make 
efforts to see if it cannot be rendered unnecessary after the 
war. 

The most authoritative expression of labor in Eng- 
land was made at the Trade-Union Congress held in 
Birmingham early in September, 1916. The resolution 
was offered advising the meeting of representatives of 
labor from all countries to hold sessions at the same 

420 



ENGLAND 

time as the meetings of the belligerent powers to deter- 
mine the terms of peace. By a vote of two to one this 
Trade-Union Congress of Great Britain and Ireland 
refused to consider having representatives of German 
labor present. 

Both in England and in France Socialists are dis- 
cussing whether or not, after the war, they will resume 
relations with the German Socialists. I heard the man 
who is regarded as the father of English Socialism, the 
head of the socialistic movement, make this remark: 
"In time perhaps we will admit the German Socialists 
into the international organization, but not on the 
same terms as formerly. We won't let them try to 
dominate as they used to; they will have a much hum- 
bler position." This state of mind influences the prob- 
able length of the war and the terms of peace. 

There are now no unemployed in England. One of 
the amazing phenomena of the war is the demonstra- 
tion of the amount of unused labor resources before 
the war. Nearly eight millions of people are directly 
occupied on the war, withdrawn from all the other 
fields of industry. This constitutes what might be 
called the slack, the hitherto unused labor, not only 
in the number of workers, but in the amount of work 
each one does. The people are calm, confident. They 
have willingly mastered the various problems, they 
have determined lines of policy, they have met the 
various possibilities and solved them. 

The determination to carry the war to a safe peace 
reaches to the uttermost element of the people. The 
awakening has changed the characteristics of all 
classes. There is an alertness, a respect for labor, a 
rejuvenation. To mingle with these people is like 

421 



OBSTACLES TO PEACE 

being in a young, booming Western town. It is a new 
England, new to its very roots. There are conventions 
and meetings and discussions in the newspapers about 
education, agriculture, welfare work in factories and 
readjustment of the rights of labor to have a greater 
share of profits. Great industries like the manufactur- 
ing of dyes are being developed in such fashion as to 
make England self-contained. 

I have talked with leading American and English 
manufacturers, labor leaders, merchants, and profes- 
sional men. All impress me with a sense of sureness 
and competency for mastery in war and industry. 
"This is an incredible people," an American said to 
me. "Incredible in their deliberation, and in their 
determination, and above all, incredible in their 
achievement." 

England has loaned the Allies four billion dollars; 
raised, trained, and equipped an army of five million 
men; created new factories; carried on military, naval, 
and mercantile enterprises all over the world; and per- 
formed the activities of peace, with half her usual labor. 
Said an American manufacturer, who has great works 
in England: "The war is standardized so that every- 
thing is done well, and the nation does its work easily." 

Everywhere I traveled in England I saw new fac- 
tories being built. In a journey of three hours I saw six 
different factories of great extent in course of erection 
in the vicinity of towns and villages where there were 
no other factories. In the great manufacturing centers 
new extensions are being built. All these new factories 
are for the purpose of increasing the munition output. 

Although the manufacturing ability of England has 
been greatly increased, both by greater activity on the 

422 



ENGLAND 

part of workingmen and by increased facilities, eighty 
per cent of all the manufacturing facilities in Great 
Britain is devoted to munitions and armaments. 

Over a million men are working on land for the navy. 
The manufacture of aeroplanes is going on on a huge 
scale, it being the fixed intention of England to extend 
her navy to the air, and secure the same dominance in 
the air as she has on the sea. 

England is an island only so long as she can protect 
herself against air raids, sea raids, or under-sea raids. 
Therefore, she is expending enormous sums to counter- 
act the submarine and to assure the complete mastery 
of the air. In one establishment a small department 
had been devoted to aeroplanes, and they have in- 
creased their facilities so as to produce fourteen 
machines a week. I am told that the total number 
of aeroplanes turned out daily in the British Isles is 
considerably over fifty, and will soon approach one 
hundred. 

One of the establishments I visited employed ten 
thousand people. Seven thousand of these employees 
were women. It was a small portion of the plant of a 
great munition concern. 

In one factory it was almost impossible to see the 
boundary wall in either direction, and this factory, as 
big as several city blocks, is occupied almost solely by 
women, working at their lathes, producing fuses. There 
were acres and acres of women here forming an insig- 
nificant portion of the hundreds of thousands of 
women who are now working in munition factories. 

I have seen shells made by the thousands and hun- 
dreds of thousands. I have seen orders calling for 
millions of shells. In the manufacturing of the fuse, I 

423 



OBSTACLES TO PEACE 

was told that over one hundred different gauges were 
required. There is no more delicate piece of mechan- 
ism than the shell fuse. It is as delicate as a watch. I 
saw these fuses being made by the hundreds of thous- 
ands, mostly by women. I saw shells, from the small 
shell, one-and-a-quarter pounds in weight when loaded, 
to shells fifteen inches in diameter. 

There is one Government munitions works, where 
they deal with explosives, that is twenty miles in 
length, and averages four miles in width. Contracts 
for munitions are being made by the Government that 
will require five years to fulfill. 

England is devoted to one single object; that is, to 
waging this war. There is a continual search for new 
men of military competence. There is talk of the possi- 
bility of raising the age limit to forty-five. A writer in 
the '* Times," speaking of Germany, said that, if neces- 
sary, Germany would extend the age limit from sixteen 
to sixty. I believe that in another year generally in 
the warring countries the limits will be from seventeen 
to fifty. This war differs from all other wars in that it 
can be won only by the killing of the enemy. 

If the Franco-Prussian War had lasted forty years, 
the German losses would have been little more than 
they have been from these two years of war. What is 
true of Germany is true of the other powers. There is 
no limit to the use of shells or to the amount of artillery. 

I have seen many trainloads of English soldiers going 
to the front and many trainloads of the wounded re- 
turning from the front. I have seen the same thing in 
Germany and Austria, and always I have been amazed 
at the youthfulness of the soldiers. The whole youth 
pf Europe from the age of eighteen is involved in this 

424 



ENGLAND 

overwhelming catastrophe, which is utterly unlike any 
previous world-war. 

I never felt so fully the incredible horror of this war, 
where the young women and men beyond military age, 
aided by experts, combine in every country to produce 
the most terrible weapons of destruction to kill the 
youth of the other countries. 

In other matters also England is at the dawn. It is 
a new British Empire, and there are great problems 
involved in what is called the organization of the 
Empire. 

One might add that England is at the dawn with 
regard to the solution of the Irish question, except that 
every one recognizes that a great step has been made 
by the coming together of Carson and Redmond, as in 
the case of the recently attempted settlement. 

English people look forward to the solution of these 
questions in varying moods of hopefulness and doubt. 
One thing, however, can be said, not only of England 
but of all the countries of the world, that, in actual 
achievement, the human race does things better than 
one would imagine from debates in Parliaments or 
writings and speeches by reformers. 

England is at the dawn because all the people have 
entered upon freedom. The barriers of caste and social 
strata have been broken down. This has come about in 
part because the salvation of the nation depended upon 
extraordinary efforts on the part of the workers to 
produce munitions of war. 

Lloyd George says : — 

Among all the changes which the Great War has brought 
in its train, none is more significant, and none more likely to 

42.5 



OBSTACLES TO PEACE 

have lasting effect, than the revolution in the structure of 
British industry. For the first time in our history many 
firms have submitted to a general control by the State; 
many workers have desisted from the endeavor to regulate 
the supply and restrict the output of labor. The factories 
are alive with new workers; the State assumes new responsi- 
bilities; fresh needs and opportunities arise; industrial con- 
ditions are in solution. 

As to the feeling in England toward France, one 
could say in one word that there is between these two 
countries a union of feeling and of interests that would 
seem to be almost as close as between England and 
Canada, or England and Australia. There is in Eng- 
land unqualified admiration for France, just as uni- 
versal and profound as the unqualified hatred for 
Germany. When any one speaks of France it is with a 
change of voice and an expression of extraordinary 
admiration and affection. 

England and France are absolutely united in the 
determination to fight until the military situation shall 
give them the peace terms they demand. The war is a 
thing that they propose to put through. There is no 
thought or discussion of anything but going on to a 
satisfactory and successful issue. The unanimity is 
profound and intense. It never happened before in the 
history of England, such a unanimity. The same is 
true of France, the same is true of Germany. 

Mr. Asquith said August 5, 1916: - — 

We face the third year of the war with an ever-growing 
confidence in the final success of the Allied cause, and with a 
resolution, confirmed by each illustration of German law- 
lessness and savagery, to fight on till the future of civiliza- 
tion is established on the firm foundation of humanity, jus- 
tice, and freedom. 

426 



ENGLAND 

The terms of peace are being worked out under the 
influence of the states of mind I have described. Any 
one who knows Germany will know that in order for 
France to get back Alsace and Lorraine, the situation 
will have to be very different from what it is at the 
present time, and yet France intends to go on and on 
until that particular measure can be imposed. There is 
also another point. The Allies propose to have the 
greatest assizes in human history. There is to be a Day 
of Judgment at the Peace Conference, dealing with the 
great mass of evidence on alleged atrocities collected 
by the French and the English Governments, includ- 
ing such outstanding matters as the assassination of 
Captain Fryatt, the sinking of the Lusitania, and the 
execution of Edith Cavell. 

Speaking on April 27, 1916, Mr. Asquith said: — 

I say with all emphasis and with all deliberation, when we 
come to an end of this war, — which please God we may, — 
we shall not forget, and we ought not to forget, this horrible 
record of calculated cruelty and crime; and we shall hold it 
to be our duty to exact such reparation against those who 
are proved to have been the guilty agents and actors in the 
matter as it may be possible for us to do. 

And again on August 4, 1916: — 

There is one feature in the later developments of the ene- 
mies' methods which seems on the face to my mind to indi- 
cate a sense of desperation. I mean the recrudescence of 
deliberate and calculated barbarity. The Belgian civil popu- 
lation who refuse to work to maintain and improve the mili- 
tary position of their invaders and oppressors are literally 
being treated like slaves. The horrors of the recent deporta- 
tion of large numbers of civilians in Lille and the other towns 
of Northern France, the midnight raids upon private dwell- 
ings, the wholesale abduction of women and girls — that is 

427 



OBSTACLES TO PEACE 

a 'story which, when it comes to be fully written, will be 
found to blacken even the besmirched annals of the German 
army. 

The first week in September might be called "Zep- 
pelin week" in England, where people occupying an 
area of over a thousand square miles were able to see 
the destruction of the Zeppelin that fell near Cuffley. 
Probably over a million people saw this sight, as the 
guns had wakened almost every one, and over the 
entire area people cheered. On the Thames ships blew 
their whistles. Some one said it was like a New Year's 
night. This Zeppelin fell in a field on the very edge 
of a village, from which one got a marvelous view of 
the most beautiful rural scenery, the Zeppelin having 
fallen on the hillside. 

I was present at the funeral of the Zeppelin crew 
given by English airmen. Crowds of people, extending 
for miles along the road into the village, had turned 
out to see this funeral, and just as the great lorries, 
bearing the coffins, covered with a black cloth, reached 
the cemetery, a woman threw an egg. This was 
deeply resented by all the people and the woman was 
arrested and taken to the police station. 

A single grave had been dug for the commander of 
the Zeppelin at the end of a long grave dug for the 
other fifteen airmen, and the funeral service was first 
read over the commander, who was referred to as "this 
unknown German officer," and then the service was 
read over the other fifteen, who were referred to as 
"these unknown German airmen." There were about 
two hundred of the Royal Plying Corps who had charge 
of the funeral, and as these young men stood to atten- 
tion during the funeral, I realized for the first time the 

428 



ENGLAND 

character and the quality of the airmen. They were 
youths from nineteen to twenty-three or twenty-four. 
They were drawn largely from the great public schools 
of England. They gave an impression not only of 
extraordinary physical fitness, but of detachment from 
ordinary human affairs. They seemed of a superior 
breed who had come from some greater race; they 
stood there detached and remote. 

The airmen of the belligerents have retained the 
older professional ideas of chivalry. On the way back 
to London the compartment I was in was filled with 
the wives of workingmen whom interest or curiosity 
had brought to the funeral. They spoke of experi- 
ences of their neighbors or friends with the Zeppelins. 
They were indignant at the woman who had thrown 
an egg. They said the members of the Zeppelin crew 
had only obeyed the orders of their Government. Then 
they talked of their poor mothers and wives in Ger- 
many. They discussed the ethics of Zeppelin raids. 
Some thought they were legal and proper, while others 
thought they were illegal. One woman, evidently of 
a higher class, stated that it was quite right so long as 
only property was destroyed, but if civilians were 
killed, it was illegal. She herself had suffered the loss 
of a house, but she felt that the Germans were within 
their rights in destroying it. 



CHAPTER XXII 

GERMANY 

Impressions oe a Visit in the Early Months of 1916 

One is surprised at the unanimity of the German peo- 
ple in regard to certain fundamental questions, until 
one reflects that such unanimity is a very general 
phenomenon. 

In 1860 and 1861 millions of men believed so 
strongly in States' rights as to enter upon and carry 
on a four years' war, and millions of them believed 
so strongly in the union of the States and the sup- 
pression of slavery as to do the same thing. Members 
of political parties for long periods hold identical 
beliefs. 

So there is no mystery or marvel in the state of mind 
of the people in Germany, or England, or France. 
Some months ago a writer in the London "Times" 
spoke of the German people as being in a manner 
hypnotized, and accounted for their unanimity by 
the influence of the press. It is unnecessary to re- 
gard the people as hypnotized. One sees similar 
phenomena in all human society. 

So, when I give the views held by the German peo- 
ple, I do not describe a unique condition. I spent 
most of the time between January 6 and April 26, 1916, 
in Germany, and I met and talked with hundreds of 
people, — officers, university professors, their wives 
and daughters and sons, business men, journalists, 
government officials, including the most powerful 

430 



GERMANY 

members of the Reichstag, — people in all walks of life. 
I found the beliefs and feelings of all either identical 
or very similar. I shall tell here what the German 
people hold as their most fixed and profound convic- 
tions and beliefs. First, there is the most complete 
assurance of victory in this war, and among the best 
informed is the absolute belief that the war is already 
won. Secondly, there is the absolute belief that Ger- 
many is in no way the aggressor, but the victim of 
aggression in this war; that Germany wanted no war, 
but that war was wantonly and wickedly forced upon 
Germany. 

This being their settled conviction, they all feel 
that the request of the German Government for a 
peaceful passage through Belgium was reasonable 
and right, and that Belgium's refusal, combined with 
the negotiations, during previous years, between cer- 
tain officials in Belgium and certain British military 
officials, justifies their course in regard to Belgium. I 
have met no one who does not feel that Belgium, or 
rather the Government of Belgium, is responsible for 
her woes, and that in this war Germany and not Bel- 
gium has cause for complaint. They feel absolutely 
justified in treating Belgium as an enemy, conquered 
country, and justify their tax of $96,000,000 a year 
to support the army of occupation as legal and just 
according to the laws of The Hague. 
• Every one I have talked to is surprised and hurt 
at the attitude of the majority of the American peo- 
ple, and believes that the Americans have been mis- 
informed and misled by British intrigue. Above all 
they are surprised by Mr. Roosevelt's position in this 
war. "He," they say, "has been in Germany; he has 

431 



OBSTACLES TO PEACE 

met our Kaiser; he knows our institutions; why did 
he make up his mind without learning the German 
side?" 

Herr Zimmermann, then Permanent Under-Secre- 
tary of State (now Foreign Minister), asked this ques- 
tion at my very first interview with him. I answered 
that Mr. Roosevelt and the mass of American people 
did not make up their minds on account of argu- 
ments advanced by the enemies of Germany. I said 
it was " Belgium, Lusitania, Scrap of Paper." 

"We offered to pay Belgium for all the damage 
our passing through would cause," he said. "We made 
the offer twice. If the old king had been living," he 
continued, with a smile, "he would have accepted our 
offer — but he would have charged double. 

"We were attacked suddenly on all sides, our very 
life was at stake, we only asked permission to defend 
ourselves. 

"As to the 'Scrap of Paper,' what our Government 
meant was that, on account of Belgium's situation 
and her negotiations with other powers, the treaty of 
neutrality had become a scrap of paper. 

"And the Lusitania? Why, we warned the Ameri- 
cans not to sail on her. What more could we have 
done? She was loaded with ammunition to kill our 
soldiers. We are sorry for the poor people who were 
drowned, but it was our duty to protect our sol- 
diers." 

I replied that it was not the violation of interna- 
tional law that caused the attitude of the American 
people in the Lusitania case, but the natural, instinc- 
tive horror that is deeper and more unchangeable than 
law. 

432 



GERMANY 

Herr Zimmermann is worthy of a special study him- 
self. He is a man of energy and mental alertness, a 
tremendous worker. He gives the impression of 
masterfulness, of absolute intellectual integrity. He 
possesses charm in a marked degree. Of his basic sin- 
cerity, intellectual and moral, there can be no doubt. 
He wins in a high degree, affection, confidence, and 
respect. Dr. Zimmermann has spent his life in govern- 
ment service. He is a self-made man in the best sense. 
In the Far East he won distinction as a consul. His 
services secured him a place in the Foreign Office and 
he ultimately became permanent Under-Secretary of 
State. Recently he was appointed Foreign Minister. 
Herr Zimmermann used every day to meet the news- 
paper correspondents. His personality secured for him 
great friendliness on the part of the newspaper men 
and others with whom he dealt. He has had no ex- 
perience in the great world outside of government 
service. 

Von Bethmann-Hollweg, the Chancellor of the Ger- 
man Empire, is a man of wide and profound intellec- 
tual interests, a lover of literature, in international 
politics a pacifist. His basic principle in international 
affairs was to compose the differences with England. 
I know of no public man in any country whose words 
command more complete belief than his. He has the 
supreme confidence of the German people for absolute 
honesty and rectitude. Von Bethmann-Hollweg's en- 
tire life has been spent in government. He began as 
so many officials begin, in a humble capacity in city 
government. He advanced until he became Prussian 
Minister of the Interior. This office has for one of its 
most important fields a general oversight of city gov- 

433 



OBSTACLES TO PEACE 

ernments. He was a fellow student with the present 
Emperor of Germany at Bonn. He has had no ex- 
perience in the world of industry or finance. 

I spent a memorable day in Jena, visiting Professor 
Rudolph Eucken, meeting his wife and daughter also. 
I was the guest of Professor Wendt, Professor of 
Theology in the University of Jena, author of many 
books, including a great work on the teachings of 
Jesus, published also in England. Frau Wendt is a 
sister of Professor von Schultze-Gavernitz. She is a 
woman of singular sweetness and goodness. It would 
be hard to find gentler or more lovable people than 
those I visited at Jena. Professor Eucken's books 
have been published in many countries, including 
Japan. He has retired from active work, but many 
decades of students have been under his influence, 
and he is loved and honored by thousands in many 
countries. 

It is difficult to describe this man, as he talked with 
a great burden of sorrow and feeling of intolerable 
misunderstanding. He spoke with especial sorrow of 
Mr. Roosevelt's views, and as he talked, his hands 
opened and closed nervously, his face, vivid and gentle, 
flushed. He said he had talked hours with Mr. Roose- 
velt, going back in history, and had enjoyed him 
immensely. 

"Why did n't Mr. Roosevelt learn the truth about 
our side?" he asked. "We had many problems to 
solve, social and religious. All we wanted was peace 
to work out our problems. Our Emperor did not want 
to hurt Belgium. We were attacked on all sides and 
we had to protect our country. Why did Americans 
want to travel on a ship that was bringing ammuni- 

434 



GERMANY 

tion to kill our soldiers? Our Emperor always worked 
for peace." 

The next day Professor Eucken took me around the 
town and through the university, showing me the 
house where the young Schiller prepared the thesis 
that secured him his professorship; the various houses 
where Goethe lived when he made brief residences in 
Jena; the cathedral which began as a Catholic struc- 
ture and ended as a Protestant church, in which 
Luther preached; also a hotel that bore the inscrip- 
tions: "Luther 1532, Bismarck 1892." 

There is a street called Humboldtstrasse, where 
Humboldt lived. Haeckel lives in Jena — an old man 
— retired. Hegel and Fichte taught in the univer- 
sity. A professor of mathematics, Professor Abbe, was 
the founder and owner of the great Zeiss Works, 
where the best lenses are made. These works employ 
five thousand men, and, with the university, make the 
life of this town of nearly fifty thousand inhabitants. 

When Professor Abbe died, after doing much for 
this town and university, he gave his great business 
to the university, so that the University of Jena is 
large and prosperous. Ordinarily there are two thou- 
sand students attending the university, young women 
as well as young men. Now there are only twelve hun- 
dred, many being in the war. There are sixty thousand 
German students in the war. Professor Eucken 
showed me the lists on one of the walls of the students 
killed since August, 1914. There were over two hun- 
dred, and every week added to the list. This univer- 
sity town, with its interest so remote from the world 
of affairs, had the same spirit and mind that I found 
in Hamburg, Berlin, Mannheim, and Frankfort. 

435 



OBSTACLES TO PEACE 

Among the many people I met was Herr Deutsch, 
chairman of the A.E.G. (the General Electric Com- 
pany of Germany), a great industrial concern with 
branches in many countries. Herr Deutsch is one of 
the most remarkable men in Europe. 

"This is a war," he said, "between the principle 
of competition as practiced in business and commerce 
in England, and cooperation as practiced in Germany. 
We must win, for we are so organized as to use all our 
forces and resources. I cannot understand America. 
This is a war between the United States and Ger- 
many. It is the ammunition and supplies you send 
that enable our enemies to fight," he said. 

Almost every one I met who had suffered by having 
relatives either killed or wounded believed that it was 
American shells that did the work. 

To-day, the military and political chiefs of Ger- 
many believe that this war must be decided on the 
sea, not by destroying Great Britain's navy, but by 
crippling her commercial fleet to such an extent that 
she cannot get food. 

"Great Britain imports five sixths of her food. Her 
supplies are lower than ever before in her history. Our 
desultory submarine warfare has already destroyed 
six per cent of her mercantile tonnage. If we could use 
our submarines freely, in six or seven weeks our new 
submarines would starve England into submission." 

These were the words of one who is regarded as the 
foremost authority on the economics of submarine 
warfare. 

This is Germany's hope. The position of the 
American Government is the only obstacle or hin- 
drance to her free use of submarines. "Germany must 

436 



GERMANY 

win. She must reach England. She has the new and 
potent weapon. Lives will be lost, but in the long run 
fewer than by a prolonged war." 

The German people believe that if war must be, 
then let it be so terrible as to end soon. 

Such is the reasoning of the leaders of Germany and 
such is the belief of the German people. 

In talking with an expert on submarine economics, 
I said I wanted to write an article on "Why Germany 
expects to win the war." 

"Germany does n't expect to win the war," he re- 
plied. "The war is won, and the English Government 
knows that we have won it." 

I will close this study of Germany with an episode 
that was characteristic of a wish I found everywhere. 

I was in Grodno, Russia, at the headquarters of 
the Twelfth German Army, February 16, 1916, with 
other newspaper correspondents. I was the oldest 
man among the correspondents. I had that day had 
my first flight in an aeroplane, and further was on the 
eve of my birthday, and so at a banquet with perhaps 
a hundred officers, the General in Command took 
occasion to address some pleasant words to me. In 
responding I closed with a toast to Germany (ap- 
plause); to America (applause); to England. There 
came a moment of silence. (I had mentioned this 
toast with a certain dread.) I concluded with the hope 
that these great nations and their allies will combine 
together to advance human civilization . The expression 
of this hope was received with tremendous applause. 

Throughout Germany and Austria-Hungary I found 
everywhere the desire to end the war and to establish 
good relations with England. 



CHAPTER XXIII 

TURKEY 

I arrived in Hamburg January 6, 1916. Hamburg was 
the only dead city I saw in Germany. The Atlantic 
Hotel, the Waldorf-Astoria of Hamburg, was almost 
deserted. But there was a great deal of literature 
scattered about in this hotel — books, pamphlets, and 
periodicals dealing with Constantinople and Turkey. 
Germany had secured control of the through route to 
Turkey and the splendid dream of the Orient filled all 
minds. 

At 8 o'clock the morning of the 8th of January, I 
started for Berlin. It was raining. As I looked out of 
the window I saw two rows of children, one girls, the 
other boys, entering a large building, and it suddenly 
flashed on my mind that the children of Europe were 
going to school as before the war. Much of the life 
and activities of civilization were unchanged; and es- 
pecially all that concerned the childhood of the race. 
Already I saw men ploughing. Mother Earth, too, 
was unchanged. 

Through the great courtesy of the German Govern- 
ment, which secured for me also permission from the 
Governments of Austria-Hungary, Bulgaria, and 
Turkey, I was able to travel from Berlin to Constan- 
tinople. The military authorities gave permission to 
my friend Professor von Schultze-Gavernitz, to accom- 
pany me in his military capacity as a lieutenant. 

So on March 1, 1916, we embarked on the Balkan- 

438 



TURKEY 

zug for Constantinople. The departure of this semi- 
weekly train from either Berlin or Constantinople is 
an event comparable to the sailing of an ocean steamer. 
There are always people of importance and fame on the 
train, distinguished soldiers and officials, and their 
friends come to see them off. Our first important stop 
was at Breslau, where three noted women, cousins of 
Von Schultze-Gavernitz, came to see us. These wo- 
men were at the head of the organizations to care for 
the health and well-being of the children of Breslau, 
and help solve the problems caused by war in the in- 
dustrial life of the city. They wore little flags of 
Turkey. "Our allies," they said. The husband of one 
of these women was a Frenchman — an officer of the 
French army. The husband of another was a surgeon 
with the German forces at Verdun. "He writes me 
that it is just a hell," she said. 

In the afternoon, soon after entering Austria, we 
stopped some minutes at Oderberg. On an adjoining 
track was a long freight train, the cars filled with men, 
women, and children. "Refugees from the battle front 
in Galicia," we were told, " on their way to Bohemia." 
The open door of each freight car was crowded with 
as many of the inmates as could look out. The men 
looked a little anxious, the women looked serious and 
patient. The children and babies were quiet and un- 
smiling, the babies like wilted flowers. They neither 
complained nor asked for anything. I gave a little girl 
of about five a piece of money. She quickly grasped my 
hand and kissed it, but there was no smile and no word, 
and none of the others asked for anything. They had 
lost their homes and their living. For days and nights 
they had been traveling in the winter weather, in cold 

439 



OBSTACLES TO PEACE 

freight cars under harsh conditions, but their situation 
was fortunate compared to that of the several millions 
of men, women, and children who had been driven 
from their homes in Courland, Poland, Servia, and 
Asia Minor, hundreds of thousands of them to perish 
miserably, without shelter or food or human pity. 

There came to my mind, as I saw these little ones, 
Mrs. Browning's poem, "The Cry of the Children," 
— the cry of the children in Armenia, Servia, Poland, 
and Belgium. — 

They look up with their pale and sunken faces, 

And their looks are sad to see, 
For the man's hoary anguish draws and presses 

Down the cheeks of infancy; . 

They look up with their pale and sunken faces, 

And their look is dread to see, 
For they mind you of their angels in high places, 

With eyes turned on Deity. 
"How long," they say, "how long, O cruel nation, 

Will you stand, to move the world, on a child's heart, - 
btifle down with a mailed heel its palpitation, 

And tread onward to your throne amid the mart? 
Our blood splashes upward, O gold-heaper, 

And your purple shows your path! 
But the child's sob in the silence curses deeper 

Than the strong man in his wrath!" 

When I awoke the next morning, Thursday, March 2, 

it was to a bright day with gleaming water by our 

s^de, ~- the Danube, — and just across the river on 

its little plateau the city of Belgrade, beautiful in sit- 

uation and famous in history for wars and sieges. 

When we crossed the river, on the temporary bridge 
we saw ^ usual effectg of shells ^ ^ ^ d * J 

buildings, on the bottom lands, the city on the heights 

440 



TURKEY 

revealing fewer tragedies from our viewpoint. All day 
we traveled through Servia. Spring cultivation there 
was far behind that in Belgium and Germany. All the 
bridges were destroyed, in many cases even the great 
steel structures which had carried the track of the 
Orient Express of former days. All the way from Ber- 
lin to Constantinople we saw soldiers guarding the 
railway, but in Servia every bridge and tunnel, and 
many other places, were guarded by little trench forts. 

I was interested to meet on the train an educated 
young Turk who had been Turkey's representative at 
the International Agricultural Institute established by 
David Lubin in Rome, under the patronage of the 
King of Italy. He was returning to help in the modern- 
izing of Turkey. 

But the most important to me of the travelers I met 
on this journey was Dr. Jaeckh, an expert on the whole 
industrial and economic life and possibilities of Turkey. 

From him I first got knowledge of the treaty which 
had been about to be consummated between England 
and Germany when war came. This was the document 
that I needed to explain many things that were vague 
or only partly understood by me. I knew that England 
and Germany had made great progress in removing 
the causes of irritation that for more than a decade had 
threatened the peace of Europe. I knew that both 
England and Germany had wanted peace in July, 1914; 
but among the obscurities that bothered me were — 
first, why was Austria so sharp and uncompromising 
in her demands on Servia; and second, just what had 
been the situation of Anglo-German relations. Both 
in Parliament and in the Reichstag it was stated 
authoritatively that England and Germany had worked 

441 



OBSTACLES TO PEACE 

together to preserve the peace of Europe during the 
two Balkan wars; but I could get no definite frame- 
work of the actual facts that lay at the basis of this 
cooperation. 

Dr. Jaeckh, however, had helped prepare the treaty 
of June, 1914, which is described in Chapter III, which 
had been agreed to through the negotiations between 
the two countries, and which had been initialed and 
ready for formal signature. And he told me the terms 
of this treaty. 

Friday evening we reached Constantinople. A great 
crowd of people welcomed the train, the arrival of 
which twice weekly is an event even in this great city. 

I found a Constantinople new in many ways. No 
dogs, paved streets, electric street-cars, a fine new 
bridge over the Golden Horn, electric lights, tele- 
phones, and a vivacity and activity on the streets 
excelling those of any city I had seen in all my recent 
travels in Europe. Here was the genuine mingling of 
the races of men. Every costume of the desert, and of 
the dwellers in the Orient was here, and many, many 
soldiers, sailors and officers, Turks, Germans, and 
Austrians. A city of a million and a half, in the most 
beautiful situation of any city in the world, picturesque, 
with the splendor and color of the East and an infusion 
of the energy and a sprinkling of the architecture of 
the West, half -conscious of the dawn of a new era, — 
such is Constantinople to the eye. 

Constantinople is a triple city, the European city 
being divided by the Golden Horn into Stamboul and 
Galatea, and the third part, Scutari, lying in Asia 
across the Bosphorus. 

When I was in Constantinople in March, 1916, 

442 



TURKEY 

Talaat Bey held three or four portfolios in the Govern- 
ment including the portfolio of war. He is now Grand 
Vizier. Neither his predecessor in the viziership nor 
the Sultan were of any importance in the Turkish Gov- 
ernment at that time, and then as now Talaat Bey was 
the absolute dictator of Turkey. I had two interviews 
with him. 

Talaat Bey looks strong and powerful. He is like a 
great American political boss, only if he were an Ameri- 
can boss he would be the king of bosses. He sits strong, 
faces you directly, speaks with simplicity and decision. 
His bearing is genial and large. At the beginning of our 
first interview some one handed him a letter. With one 
hand he tore off the end of the envelope, took out the 
enclosure, and threw the empty envelope on the floor, 
glanced a moment at the letter, and gave instructions 
to the bearer. All these things were done with extra- 
ordinary speed, and yet without the impression of 
hurry. He is a born master-executive. 

No other ruler of to-day possesses his absolute au- 
thority. The life, liberty, and property of every in- 
habitant of Turkey are in his hands. I asked him why 
the Armenians were removed with such cruelties. He 
replied that some of the officials were not angels, and 
that 15,000 or 20,000 Armenians had been killed; but 
that he had sent out commissions to investigate those 
cruelties and that he would punish the guilty officials. 
The fate of the Armenians has been in his hands for 
more than two years. After seeing the leading men of 
the Central Powers, I should say that Talaat Bey is 
the strongest man between Berlin and hell. 

Among the notables I met in Constantinople was 
the Grand Vizier. I said to him that Turkey was at 

443 



OBSTACLES TO PEACE 

the dawn, that her resources were far less developed 
than those of even the United States, and that Turkey 
and England were among the oldest countries in 
Europe. 

"Yes," he said. "But you cannot compare England 
to Turkey. England has had no such glorious history 
as Turkey. What was England three centuries ago?" 

"This is a wonderful city," I said. 

"The finest in the world," he replied. " That is why 
they all want it. That is why we have to fight to keeD 
it." * 

"There was some talk," I said, "of removing the 
capital into Asia Minor." 

"Pouf! Why should we? This is the best place. We 
are here between Europe and Asia. Over there is 
Asia." And he gave a gesture with his left hand as one 
might say, "Over there is my automobile." 

In the guard-room, at the entrance to the palace of 
the Grand Vizier, I noticed a splendid-looking officer 
m charge of the guard — a regular young D'Artagnan. 
I learned that he was a Kurd. He told us of three wars 
he had been in, including recent fighting at the Suez 
Canal; and he bore marks of fighting and wore orders 
earned by bravery. 

I said to him, "I've heard terrible things about your 
people." J 

He became very serious and answered me by saying 
that his people had no chance; that the Kurds were 
tar from the culture of Europe, surrounded by bar- 
barians,— such as Russians and Anatolians, — but 
that now they would have better opportunities. 

Another Turkish officer spoke with great pride of 
,±urkeys military achievements, especially at Galli- 

444 



TURKEY 

poli. "We have been more successful than any other 
nation in this war. We have done most of the fighting. 
We saved Germany." 

The Grand Vizier was right. The situation of Con- 
stantinople is unique. But it is this very situation that 
makes its possession the apple of Paris among the 
nations of Europe. Constantinople controls the exit of 
most of Russia's exports, just as New Orleans, in the 
hands of Spain, more than a century ago, controlled 
the mouth of the Mississippi, through which at that 
time three eighths of our exports must pass to the sea. 

Russia is young, and her agriculture is primitive, 
yet she produces one fifth of the world's wheat, one 
fourth each of the world's potatoes and oats, nearly a 
third each of the world's beet-sugar and barley, and 
more than half of the world's rye. At the present time 
her greatest sources of wealth — coal, oil, and agri- 
culture — are in the regions tributary to the Black 
Sea. All the huge exports from this region must pass 
through the Bosphorus, which is about as wide at 
Constantinople as the Hudson River is at New York 
City. The unhindered use of this trade route is abso- 
lutely essential to Russia, and that Russia should have 
it is very important to the world. The closing of the 
Bosphorus increases greatly the price of wheat in the 
world's markets. 

In a little over two hundred years Russia has waged 
ten wars against Turkey. 

To make the situation of Russia more vivid I will 
take a chapter from the history of our own country. 
In 1786, Jay, who was trying to negotiate a treaty with 
the first Spanish Minister to the United States, re- 
ported to Congress, after long and fruitless negotia- 

445 



OBSTACLES TO PEACE 

tions, that our right to use the Mississippi would have 
to be secured "by arms or by treaty." 

In a recent book, on "America's Foreign Relations" 
(Century Co., 1916), Willis Fletcher Johnson, of New 
York University, writes : — 

Passions ran high in Congress over the matter. Patrick 
Henry declared that he would "rather part with the Con- 
federation than relinquish the navigation of the Mississippi." 
Madison, usually calm and philosophic, was roused to some- 
thing like anger. Washington counseled patience and mod- 
eration, but his voice was lost in the tumult. 

Nor was that all. Treason began to rise in the Southwest. 

Matters grew worse. There were ominous threats of 
secession in the Southwest. The people feared that the 
East would abandon them in the effort to secure free 
navigation of the Mississippi. These troubles con- 
tinued, until finally France made a secret treaty with 
Spain for the acquisition of Louisiana with New 
Orleans and the mouth of the Mississippi. Napoleon 
secured this huge territory (nearly one million square 
miles, or one third of the present United States) in 
exchange for promising the Queen of Spain that her 
nephew should be made King of Tuscany. This treaty 
was kept secret, and the Spanish officials remained in 
nominal charge of Louisiana. 

Finally Congress in 1803, voted two million dollars 
in a secret session "to enable the executive to com- 
mence with more effect a negotiation with the French 
and Spanish Governments relative to the purchase of 
the Island of New Orleans and the provinces of East 
and West Florida." 

A few weeks later Congress authorized the call for 
eighty thousand volunteers. 

446 



TURKEY 

Jefferson wrote to Livingston, American Minister in 
Paris: "The future destinies of our country hang on 
the event of this negotiation"; and to Dupont de 
Nemours: "The use of the Mississippi is so indispen- 
sable that we cannot one moment hesitate to hazard 
our existence for its maintenance." 

I can best present the situation by quoting from a 
letter written by Jefferson in May, 1801, to Monroe, 
showing how the right to free access to the sea through 
the Mississippi affected his views as to the foreign 
policy of the United States : — 

The cession of Louisiana and the Floridas by Spain to 
France works most sorely on the United States. On this sub- 
ject the secretary of state has written to you fully; yet I 
cannot forbear recurring to it personally, so deep is the im- 
pression it makes on my mind. It completely reverses all 
the political relations of the United States, and will form a 
new epoch in our political course. Of all nations of any con- 
sideration, France is the one which, hitherto, has offered the 
fewest points on which we could have conflict of rights, and 
the most points of a communion of interests. From these 
causes we have ever looked to her as our natural friend, as 
one with whom we never could have an occasion of differ- 
ence. Her growth, therefore, we viewed as our own, her 
misfortunes as ours. 

New Orleans was to us what Constantinople is to 
Russia. Jefferson continues : — 

There is on the globe one single spot, the possessor of 
which is our natural and habitual enemy. It is New Orleans, 
through which the produce of three eighths of our territory 
must pass to market, and from its fertility this region will ere 
long yield more than half of our whole produce, and contain 
more than half of our inhabitants. France, placing herself 
in that door, assumes to us the attitude of defiance. Spain 
might have retained it quietly for years. Her pacific dis- 

447 



OBSTACLES TO PEACE 

position, her feeble state, would induce her to increase our 
facilities there so that her possession of the place would 
hardly be felt by us, and it would not, perhaps, be very long 
before some circumstances might arise which might make 
the cession of it to us the price of something of more worth 
to her. Not so can it ever be in the hands of France. 

We can get an understanding of the vital importance 
of New Orleans from the extraordinary suggestions 
Jefferson made, which, if carried out, would completely 
reverse our friendships in Europe. He wrote : — 

These circumstances render it impossible that France and 
the United States can long continue friends when they meet 
in so irritable a position. They, as well as we, must be blind 
if they do not see this, and we must be very improvident if 
we do not begin to make arrangements on that hypothesis. 
The day that France takes possession of New Orleans . . . 
seals the union of two nations who, in conjunction, can 
maintain exclusive possession of the ocean. From that 
moment we must marry ourselves to the British fleet and 
nation. We must turn all our attention to a maritime force. 

The feeling of the people of the United States in 
regard to this matter is told by Professor Johnson in 
the book from which I have just quoted : — 

Six months later, on October 16, 1802, either Morales, 
the Spanish Intendant, or Salcedo, the Spanish Governor, 
at New Orleans, arbitrarily and without warning revoked 
the American right to use that city as a port of deposit. That 
was the first step toward disclosing the terms of the treaty 
of San Ildefonso and toward turning Louisiana over to its 
new owners. The news of this did not reach Washington for 
several weeks. But when it did it created one of the most 
profound sensations the American Republic had thus far 
known. The whole country was swept with fiery tides of 
passion, amid which, strange to say, the one man who re- 
mained cool, calm, conservative, and master of himself was 

448 



TURKEY 

the usually impressionable and impulsive Jefferson. In the 
West, in Illinois and Kentucky, the settlers were furious. 
Years before they had exercised immeasurable patience and 
forbearance in the face of great provocation, trusting to the 
promise that their interests would be protected and their 
rights would be vindicated. But now all seemed to be in 
vain. The treaty which secured their rights was wantonly 
repudiated and their vital interests were sacrificed. 

As is well known, negotiation with Napoleon re- 
sulted in the Louisiana Purchase. France secured 
Louisiana in return for a promise that was never ful- 
filled. France never occupied Louisiana, but sold it to 
the United States. Napoleon said: — 

I have given England a maritime rival who will some day 
humble her pride. Sixty millions for a territory which we 
may not occupy for a single day ! 

The subsequent possession of Texas, New Mexico, 
and California was the direct outgrowth of the pur- 
chase of Louisiana. 

The conflicting vital interests of Russia and Ger- 
many as to Constantinople and Asiatic Turkey con- 
stitute one of the great obstacles to an early peace. 

Of even more importance to nations than territory 
is security. It can easily be seen, considering the fact 
that Germany at present, physically and militarily, 
occupies the territory from Hamburg to Bagdad, how 
slight was the possibility of peace from the efforts 
made in December, 1916, and January, 1917. For the 
security of the British Empire would be vitally threat- 
ened by the same achievement of Germany that pre- 
vents Russia from controlling the Bosphorus. 

On the other hand, the prize Germany aims to secure 
to herself in Turkey is of dazzling importance. From 

449 



OBSTACLES TO PEACE 

the North Sea to the Persian Gulf, including the Bal- 
kans, but excluding the occupied territories of France, 
Belgium, and Russia, there is a territory nearly half 
the size of the United States, with a present population 
of one hundred and sixty million, much of it under 
very primitive conditions, waiting only for science and 
organization to make it bloom. 

This territory could furnish now fifteen million to 
twenty million soldiers, and its wealth and population 
would increase rapidly. Its communications for war 
and commerce are free from the dangers of the sea. 
Once in possession of this territory, Germany could 
choke Russia by simply closing the Baltic and the 
Bosphorus. With such an advantage she could make 
a singularly favorable commercial treaty with Russia, 
and perhaps, in time, even a treaty of alliance. 

The territory which comprises the Turkish Empire 
includes cities and regions which successively in the 
history of the world have exercised great power and 
influence, — Babylon and Nineveh, Alexandria, Con- 
stantinople, and Bagdad. Within its boundaries lies 
the traditional site of the Garden of Eden. There, too, 
are the Holy Land and Jerusalem. 

Perhaps the chief political objective of the Turkish 
Government is to get control of the Suez Canal and 
Egypt. Egypt is the most densely populated country 
in the world. With a cultivable area of ten thousand 
square miles, it has a population of nearly fourteen 
million, or almost double that of Belgium, which has 
an area of eleven thousand square miles. 

The inhabitants of Egypt are probably the most 
easily oppressed of all peoples. From the earliest dawn 
of recorded history until the British possession of 

450 



TURKEY 

Egypt, their history is an unvarying record of oppres- 
sion and suffering, varied by methods that differed 
only in degrees of atrocity and cruelty. Under the 
benign and just rule of England, Egypt has prospered 
amazingly. Her population has doubled in thirty 
years. 

The expulsion of the Armenians, with the appropria- 
tion of their properties (and the Armenians are very 
industrious), has temporarily increased the wealth of 
the Turks. But inasmuch as the Armenians were the 
principal producers of wealth in the country, the 
plunder taken from them will soon be exhausted. 
Egypt would be another and richer Armenia. More- 
over, there are great numbers of Coptic Christians 
there, who would be robbed first. In Egypt, however, 
the Turks, when in power, robbed and oppressed their 
own fellow-religionists. The Turks are determined to 
get Egypt, and many of the most fanatical of the 
officials engaged in managing the deportation and 
destruction of the Armenians are Egyptians. Every 
publicist I talked to in Germany about Egypt said 
that it would go to Turkey. 

It might be asserted that in such a case Germany 
would exercise an overlordship and would prevent 
cruelties and injustices in Egypt. That would be just 
as impossible as it now is for the Germans to prevent 
the Armenian deportations. The ruling Turks are very 
proud, and even now fret at the necessary German 
collaboration in Turkey. Germany could control 
Turkish policy only by war, and should Germany 
resort to war against Turkey, there are other nations 
that would seize the opportunity to drive German 
influence out of Turkey. 

451 



OBSTACLES TO PEACE 

I spoke of the mass of literature I found in the hotel 
at Hamburg, dealing with Asiatic Turkey. I will give 
some idea of this literature. 

Dr. Freiherr von Mackay ("The Quadruple Alli- 
ance and the World-Significance of the New Con- 
nexion between Europe and the East." Stuttgart, 
1916): — 

The first and foremost direction for the blow to be struck 
by the new Quadruple Alliance is known and has been 
much discussed. Its point is defined in the phrase: "Ostend- 
Bagdad!" It is directed against Britain's supremacy of 
the seas and the chain of naval stations connecting the 
North Sea with India. It counters the London blue-water 
school with the principle: Waves are broken by the land. 

Professor Roloff ("An Egyptian Expedition as a 
Weapon against England." Giessen, 1915) suggests 
that the expulsion of the British from Egypt would 
be Germany's greatest triumph. He continues: — 

Even if the British escape catastrophe in Egypt, their 
occupation of that country will bring them little profit and 
less peace of mind if Turkey emerges from this war strong 
and rejuvenated. In that case England would always have 
to reckon with a possible Mussulman attack on the Suez 
Canal and be compelled to detach a large portion of her 
forces to defend it; i.e., weaken herself in Europe. 

Professor Alfred Hettner ("The Aims of our World- 
Policy," Berlin, 1915) expresses the General Turkish 
policy of Germany, which is to reorganize the Turkish 
Empire and make it so powerful that Egypt would 
be untenable for England. He says: — 

During the war, Turkey, in unison with the Central 
Empires, has defined her aims in regard to Egypt. It must 
become an integral part of the Ottoman Empire. . . . 

We can only pursue such aims as have Turkey's full 

452 



TURKEY 

consent. Territorial aggrandizement is out of the question. 
It is questionable whether it will be possible to establish 
large settlements of German peasants. Without doubt Ger- 
many will be interested most of all in commercial under- 
takings, developing the means of communication and sys- 
tems of irrigation, together with educative work in politi- 
cal, military, and cultural matters. . . . 

Such a policy will give us a strong ally, whose strength 
will grow from year to year; an ally who will be of greater 
value to us than any colored African troops could ever be. 
At the same time it opens the way to Egypt and Persia, 
and through the Persian Gulf — where England's suprem- 
acy must be broken — to the Indian Ocean and the lands 
around it. . . . 

Professor During says (September, 1915) : — 

On broad lines it is now quite clear what form the future 
Turkish Empire will assume. From Tripoli across to Persia 
and on the ridges of the Caucasus, German energy — with- 
out injury to the sovereignty of the Osmanic State — will 
cooperate in Turkey's renaissance and the development of 
her treasures. 

In "The Fight for the Dardanelles" (Stuttgart, 
1915) Herr Trampe says: — 

When England — the European outsider who lags far 
behind Germany in national power, individual talent, and 
political strength — loses India, then her world-power will 
be broken. The ancient highroad of the world is the one 
which leads from Europe to India — the road used by 
Alexander — the highway which leads from the Danube 
via Constantinople to the valley of the Euphrates, and by 
Northern Persia, Herat, and Kabul to the Ganges. Every 
yard of the Bagdad Railway which is laid brings the owner 
of the railway nearer to India. What Alexander performed 
and Napoleon undoubtedly planned, can be achieved by a 
third treading in their footsteps. . . . 

The spirit of history has determined, too, that in the cul- 

453 



OBSTACLES TO PEACE 

tural war let loose by enemies filled with fear and hate for 
our State system, the Central Empires' towering superior- 
ity in cultural greatness shall beat back and vanquish the 
barbarous methods of our antagonists. . . . 

Field-Marshal von Mackensen is paving the way indi- 
cated by Prince Eugene of Savoy; and the Young German 
Empire has undertaken the task which the Holy Roman 
Empire left as an unsolved heritage to the German nation. 

Turkey seems so near to us; and the German nation is 
sacrificing blood and treasure for the sake of regulating 
conditions in the Balkans. The most striking and at the 
same time the most pleasing symptom, however, is that 
there are no protests at the turn events have taken. The 
conviction seems to have penetrated through the whole 
nation that it must be so — that we are not out for an 
adventure, but merely obeying an inward necessity, when 
we make the cause of Turkey and Bulgaria our own. 

Professor Hettner ("The Aims of our World Pol- 
icy," Berlin, 1915) writes: — 

Now that our Weltpolitik has brought us into armed con- 
flict with England, we must endeavor, in spite of Britain's 
power, to gain that which will be conducive to our welfare; 
and that is not a limitation to West Africa, but a sphere of 
interest or an empire which stretches across Africa from 
one ocean to the other. We will win our place in the sun, 
and to this end destroy England's world-domination, and 
keep Russia within her proper limits. Nor will we renounce 
the Pacific either to American or Japanese dominion. Until 
we have broken England's power we cannot be a great and 
free nation. 

Professor During, in an article, " Germany and 
Turkey," writes : — 

I spent fourteen years in the Orient just in the period 
when German interests and influence began to increase 
there. My great love for the country and its people has 
always led me to wish and hope that Turkey would rise to 
the rank of a first-class power with Germany's help. 

454 



TURKEY 

And Professor Roloff follows up the idea : — 

Turkey has become a kind of "life insurance" for Ger- 
many against the English danger. For, in case Britain 
eventually attacked Germany, the reply would be an attack 
through Turkey against Egypt. A beginning has also been 
made in the tremendous task of awakening new life in the 
valleys of the Euphrates and Tigris, the once fruitful 
Mesopotamia. For many years past a British company has 
been engaged on this gigantic problem. They have en- 
deavored, by reconstructing the decayed irrigation canals, 
building new dams, and extending the irrigation system, 
to revive in this dead land the same or even greater fer- 
tility than it enjoyed thousands of years ago. Now we may 
safely assume that German engineers will complete the 
work of transforming and opening up these enormous terri- 
tories. 

Another task to which the Turks must devote themselves 
is the development of their sea power. Germany too must 
acquire a naval station on Turkish soil. . . . 

Of what use would Gibraltar, the Mediterranean, and 
the Suez Canal be to England, if our land-ways to Persia 
and India are secure beyond the range of the biggest naval 
guns? . . . 

The Bagdad Railway consists of a single track; con- 
struction is proceeding simultaneously at both ends 
of each gap; and the entire railway should be com- 
pleted in 1917, when, as we are told and can well be- 
lieve, and as Hans Rohde writes (in "Deutschland in 
Vorderasien," Berlin, 1916) : — 

It will produce economic, political, and cultural results 
the extent of which cannot now be imagined. In a very 
short time direct communication by rail will be established 
between Constantinople and Bagdad; while during the 
next generation towns and villages will spring up along the 
line, and along the lesser railways which will be built to 
complete the network. These will provide for the agricul- 

455 



OBSTACLES TO PEACE 

tural and industrial development of that ancient seat of 
culture to the mutual profit of Turkey and Germany. 

The sword had to decide the fate of Near Asia, and a 
decision has fallen, unless unforeseen events intervene. 
Germany will not be limited to the sphere of influence 
formerly alloted to her, but in future she will devote her 
energies to Armenia, Syria, and Mesopotamia in the in- 
terests of German capitalists and merchants. In this man- 
ner the way will be kept open which the war indicated 
and which, together with our allies, we have fought for 
and won — the way that leads from Berlin, via Vienna — 
Sofia — Constantinople — Bagdad, to the Persian Gulf, 
and has become the vital nerve in our economic life and 
our policy. 

Before the war there were about one thousand 
schools in Turkey maintained by other nations as 
follows : — 

France 530 schools, with about 54,000 pupils 

America 273 " " " 18,000 " 

England 126 " " " 10,000 " 

Italy 67 " " " 5,000 " 

Germany 23 " " " 3,000 " 

All these schools would be suppressed or either 
Germanized or Moslemized. 

The huge expectations of Germany, an anonymous 
writer in Mesopotamia ("The Land of the Future," 
Berlin, 1916) says, after a few decades of intensive cul- 
ture Turkey will be able to supply the deficit in Ger- 
man requirements as regards grains, fruit, cotton, 
wool, petroleum, fat, etc. 

But [he adds] this will only be possible if German offi- 
cials and German capital are given complete freedom of 
action, and all foreign undertakings — above all, English 
and French projects — are excluded. Hand in hand with 
this demand must go the work of developing the means of 
communication, colonization plans, and the securing of the 

456 



TURKEY 

power of the State by a proper organization of the adminis- 
trative and military establishments. 

Although it would take five Egypts to make the 
State of Iowa, its population of fourteen millions is equal 
to nearly seventy per cent of the Turkish Empire. 
What a Belgium or Armenia it would be for Turkey! 

Recently Mr. Arthur Henderson, a member of the 
British Cabinet, said : — 

Suppose we had a peace on the basis of status quo ante 
helium. You forget that while Germany has failed to conquer 
her enemies, she has conquered her allies; Germany has 
subordinated Austria, Turkey, and Bulgaria wholly to her 
will, and "Middle Europe" has become a political reality. 
It is impossible to return to the status quo as between Ger- 
many and her enemies. We cannot tolerate so strong and 
so strongly placed a military force as would be constituted 
by Germany, Austria, Turkey, and Bulgaria effectively 
united under German control, nor can we do so even in 
view of international aspirations after peace for the future. 

The fate of the inhabitants of Egypt depends on 
the outcome of this war. The loss of the Suez Canal 
would be a capital disaster to Great Britain. We may, 
therefore, conclude that neither of the great belli- 
gerents will give up the fight for the control of Egypt 
and the Suez Canal, which means so much, until the 
exhaustion of one side or the other. To Great Britain 
it is a fight to prevent the greatest disaster in her his- 
tory; to Germany, a fight for achieving a sure founda- 
tion for world-dominion; and to the ruling class of 
Turkey, it is a fight for vast riches and power. 



CHAPTER XXIV 

OUR SISTER FRANCE 

"What shall it profit a man if he gain the whole world 
and lose his own soul?" The significance of this ques- 
tion is common knowledge to all peoples. But until 
my visit to France last summer I never thought of the 
converse, "What shall it profit a man (or a nation) if 
he lose the whole world and save his own soul?" — 
and in a way that is what has happened to France. For 
all France, every man, woman, and child, has made 
the ultimate surrender of personal ambition, property, 
life, freedom from pain, everything, in behalf of France. 
"My life is but a moment in the life of France, France 
is eternal," an officer said in dying; and that is the 
spirit of all. The story of France is written in the 
blood of her children, who died that France might live. 

The result of this devotion is such a revealing of the 
very soul of France that for the first time one realizes 
that behind the achievements of France, — the mother 
of democracies, and of human freedom, the mother of 
surpassing beauty in art and literature, the mother of 
gracious and noble human intercourse, — there always 
was something incomparably greater and more lovable 
than her achievements, and that was the soul itself of 
France. 

It was not a new France that was revealed at Verdun 
or at the Marne. It was France. The France without 
whose contributions even of the last one hundred and 
fifty years the world would be greatly poorer. 

458 



OUR SISTER FRANCE 

It must never be forgotten that a capital issue of the 
war is the fate of France. Had Germany won the bat- 
tle of the Marne, and had England held aloof from the 
conflict, France, which had survived the calamities of 
1870-71, would have lost the nourishing atmosphere 
of freedom that has enabled her so wonderfully to en- 
rich human civilization. 

The miracle of France in this war is that, with 
almost fatal handicaps, she has surpassed all other na- 
tions in economic and military organization and effi- 
ciency. And this is due only in part to the universal 
devotion of her people : it is mainly because in the ul- 
timate assessment of ordeal by war France has shown 
herself superior in force and genius. 

The most thrilling page in her history is open to the 
eyes of all the world. It is the battle-field of Verdun. 
In this one battle of Verdun, in six months the loss of 
France exceeded the losses of the Union armies in our 
whole Civil War. The battle of Verdun, involving as 
much fighting as all our Civil War, had hundreds of 
Thermopylae, hundreds of Gettysburgs, but each in- 
finitely more terrible than the world had ever seen be- 
fore. Most battles last one or two days. This battle 
has lasted more than a year and is not yet ended. In 
certain exposed places death was almost inevitable, 
but the French youth, regiment after regiment, went 
forward to hold them till death. No surrender, no 
retreat. It was their mad bravery and divine cour- 
age that held Verdun. It was the greatest test a na- 
tion ever endured, and the youth of France never 
faltered there, but has gone on day after day, week 
after week, month after month, facing death, muti- 
lation, and torture in their most terrible form. For 

459 



OBSTACLES TO PEACE 

many death came in being burned to a crisp by 
liquid fire, hundreds and hundreds were buried alive 
in their trenches. Many of those who survived the 
liquid fire were brought back with face and eyes de- 
stroyed by the flames. 

The battle of the Marne and the battle of Verdun 
give us a true measure of the character of the French 
and an indication of their purpose. To know the story 
of Verdun is to know the mind of France, and the char- 
acter of the French. For war is the most searching 
test of a people, and the battle of Verdun is one of the 
most terrible ever fought. 

In other days heroism was a matter of hours, sharp, 
thrilling, unexpected. Most men can face death for a 
brief space, but the youth who saved France knew be- 
forehand what was to come, and lived and moved days, 
weeks, and months, meeting death in its most mysteri- 
ous and terrible forms. "He was at Verdun" will 
be the ultimate badge of courage for generations to 
come. 

For generations to come the youth of all countries 
will visit Verdun and see the land made holy by the 
blood and anguish of hundreds of thousands of young 
men, who revealed qualities and endurance surpassing 
all possible anticipation: who showed as never before 
what France is, in courage, self-denial, nobility, and 
infinite endurance. 

As regiment after regiment marched up the single 
road that was available, I was told that no one smiled, 
but no one hesitated. All the men, munitions, and 
provisions went up this single road, all the wounded 
were brought back by this road. It is called the Via 
Sacra. 

460 



OUR SISTER FRANCE 

Sometime, perhaps, the youth of other lands may 
build a monument on this road. 

I quote this little tribute from Maurice Maeterlinck : 

In this horrible war, whose stakes are the salvation and the 
future of mankind, let us first of all salute our wonderful 
sister France, who is supporting the heaviest burden and 
who, for more than eleven months, having broken its first 
and most formidable onslaught, has been struggling, foot by 
foot, at closest quarters, without faltering, without remis- 
sion, with a heroic smile, against the most formidable organi- 
zation of devastation that the world has seen since man first 
learnt the history of the planet on which he lives. We have 
here a revelation of qualities and virtues surpassing all that 
we expected from a nation, which nevertheless had accus- 
tomed us to expect of her all that goes to make the beauty 
and glory of humanity. 

The Paris correspondent of the Christiania "Tidens 
Tegn," Dr. Bjarne Eide, describes the spirit of Paris 
on the day of the National Fete : — 

Once more it is France that leads the way in the fight for 
all humanity; it is France once more that offers whatever it 
holds dearest on the altar of the common good. . . . And 
France is much greater and stands much higher on this 14th 
of July than on that other, a century and a quarter ago. It 
has a mastery over itself such as it has never had before, and 
it sees clearly and in sharp outlines the ideal it is fighting for. 

One needs to be here, in Paris, in order to be sensible of 
the mighty and inspiring passion which sweeps through the 
people, one and all. And when I look at the map of the world 
I ask myself from what quarter a great ideal movement is to 
come if not from France? Is there any people in the world 
so willing as the French to risk everything in a striving to- 
wards ideals? 

It is the threatening vision of the new world-Bastille that 
has brought them all together in the realization that as 
surely as the old Bastille had to fall, so surely must all Bas- 

461 



OBSTACLES TO PEACE 

tilles be overthrown, for they have no place in man's life 
upon earth. . . . 

i There is no day which will then be held more fitting for 
the world's Festival of Freedom than the Frenchmen's 14th 
of July. 

Here is an extract from a letter found on the body 
of Jean Chatanay, reservist lieutenant killed at Ver- 
melles, October 15, 1914, that reveals the spirit of 
France : — 

My darling [he wrote to his wife], I am writing this letter 
in case of need, for we do not know. ... If it reaches you, it 
is because France will have had need of me to the end. You 
must not weep, for I swear to you, I shall die happy if I am 
called to give my life for her. 

My only anxiety is the difficult situation in which you will 
find yourself, you and the children. . . . How shall you be 
able to assure proper support for the dear babies and your- 
self? Fortunately, you can depend upon your former experi- 
ence as teacher and on the entire cooperation of all my 
friends. How I wish that some possible solution will be 
arranged for you ! 

Concerning the education of the children, I am not dis- 
turbed; you will direct it as I myself would have done. I 
hope that they will become as independent as I would have 
enabled them to if I could have remained. The only great 
trouble will be Zette, for it will be hard, if not impossible, to 
live in Paris. . . . Caress the dear little ones for their papa; 
tell them that he has gone on a long, very long journey, 
without ceasing to love them, without ceasing to think of 
them; and that he protects them from afar. I would like to 
have Cotte, at least, remember me. . . . There will also be a 
little child, so little that I shall not have known it. If it is a 
son, I hope that he will be a doctor, at least if France no 
longer needs officers. Say to him, when he is old enough to 
understand, that I have given my life for a great ideal, to reor- 
ganize and strengthen my country. 

I believe that I have said all that is essential. Au revoir, 

462 



OUR SISTER FRANCE 

my dear one, my love. Promise me that you will not blame 
France if she requires me to give my entire self. Promise me 
also to console mamma and papa; and tell the little girls that 
their father, although he is far away, never ceases to watch 
over them and to love them dearly. We will one day be 
reunited, I trust, reunited beside that One who guides our 
destinies, and who has given me the blessing of being near to 
you and of having known such happpiness in you. Poor 
darling, I myself have not the time to dwell long enough on 
our love, so magnificently enduring and so brave. 

Au revoir, until the great, the true reunion. Be brave. 

Your Jean. 

This is a short chapter for a great nation. 

When Lincoln was assassinated the common people 
of France, and many famous people like Victor Hugo, 
contributed two cents each — the amount was small, 
so that many might share in the privilege of contribut- 
ing — to have a medal made to send to Mrs. Lincoln. 
The medal was placed in the hands of the American 
Ambassador to be sent to Mrs. Lincoln, with this mes- 
sage: "Say to Mrs. Lincoln that in this little box is 
the heart of France." 



CHAPTER XXV 

THE LESSON TO OUR OWN COUNTRY 

It was my intention to devote a chapter to "Europe 
after the War," with special reference to the effect on 
our industrial situation. Much has been said and writ- 
ten on this subject. But I find I have no heart to deal 
with what will happen to us. When one knows the 
tragedy of Europe, it is difficult to study our own 
particular industrial interests. 

There is, however, one lesson for us : the parallel be- 
tween Turkey and Mexico in their international as- 
pects. Those two nations have about the same area. 
The inhabitants of neither country are able to organize 
a government that will insure themselves justice and 
security. Neither country is able to develop its re- 
sources or to protect itself. Both countries will inevit- 
ably be dominated by more powerful nations. 

The history of Mexico will duplicate that of Turkey. 
In time Mexico is bound to be a prize to be fought for. 
I make this statement having no nation or nations in 
my mind. The world is small, the hunger and power of 
the leading industrial nations are great. There are 
many similarities in detail between Turkey and Mexico. 
A great military and naval power, controlling Mexico, 
would dominate the small Central American nations 
and the Panama Canal. 

A century is a long time in the history of the world; 
it is a moment in the history of biology and evolu- 
tion. Thousands of years would be a short period for 

464 



THE LESSON TO OUR OWN COUNTRY 

the Mexican people to develop the intelligence and 
power necessary to enable them to be masters of their 
fate. 

Speaking of New Orleans, in 1801, Thomas JefTer- 
son said, "There is on the globe one single spot, the 
possessor of which is our natural and habitual enemy." 
Much more would this be true of the powerful nation 
that might secure a sufficient foothold in Mexico to 
develop such wealth and power as to be able to retain 
control. 

In some way the United States should make an in- 
dustrial and political alliance with Mexico. 

There are more than twelve millions in Mexico who 
are powerless to get for themselves ordinary security 
and justice. Mexico is the greatest unguarded body of 
treasure on the globe. It is, moreover, a mass of treas- 
ure that constitutes an unguarded entrance into the 
United States. 

It is the duty of the Government of the United 
States to concern itself with the Mexican question in 
the light of the Turkish question in Europe. 

The United States is blessed above all nations in its 
natural security. In a recent book the noted naval 
authority, Archibald Hurd, speaking of the British 
Empire, says : — 

By the power of the sea the British Empire came into 
being, and with the loss of that power it will pass away 
again. It is all a matter of ships — ships of war and ships 
of commerce. The former are the life lines of the greatest 
empire the world has ever seen, an empire without a threat- 
ened land frontier, whose unity can be maintained only so 
long as the British fleet commands the seas, which are its 
highways. . . . The British Empire floats on the two Brit- 
ish Navies — the Royal Navy and the Merchant Navy — 

465 



OBSTACLES TO PEACE 

and once they are permitted to decline that empire's doom 
is sealed. 

Compared with the nations of Europe we are singu- 
larly fortunate. But we should lose half our natural se- 
curity if Mexico should fall into the hands of a power- 
ful nation. 

The good fortune that is ours, that gives us a conti- 
nent in area and access to the sea, cannot be over- 
estimated. 

In his Annual Message to Congress, December 1, 
1862, Lincoln said in part : — 

A nation may be said to consist of its territory, its people, 
and its laws. The territory is the only part which is of cer- 
tain durability. " One generation passeth away and another 
generation cometh, but the earth abide th forever." It is of 
the first importance to duly consider and estimate this ever 
enduring part. That portion of the earth's surface which is 
owned and inhabited by the people of the United States is 
well adapted to be the home of one national family, and it 
is not well adapted for two or more. Its vast extent and its 
variety of climate and productions are of advantage in this 
age for one people, whatever they might have been in former 
ages. . . . 

There is no line, straight or crooked, suitable for a na- 
tional boundary, upon which to divide. Trace through 
from east to west upon the line between the free and the 
slave country, and we shall find a little more than one third 
of its length are rivers, easy to be crossed, and populated, 
or soon to be populated, thickly upon both sides; while 
nearly all of its remaining length are merely surveyors' lines, 
over which people may walk back and forth without any 
consciousness of their presence. No part of this line can 
be- made any more difficult to pass, by writing it down on 
paper or parchment as a national boundary. 

But there is another difficulty. The great interior region, 
bounded east by the Alleghanies, north by the British 

466 



THE LESSON TO OUR OWN COUNTRY 

Dominions, west by the Rocky Mountains, and south by 
the line along which the culture of corn and cotton meets, 
. . . already has above ten millions of people, and will have 
fifty millions within fifty years, if not prevented by any 
political folly or mistake. It contains more than one third 
of the country owned by the United States — certainly 
more than one million of square miles. A glance at the map 
shows that, territorially speaking, it is the great body of 
the Republic. In the production of provisions, grains, 
grasses, and all which proceed from them, this great in- 
terior region is naturally one of the most important in the 
world. 

And yet this region has no seacoast, touches no ocean 
anywhere. As part of one nation, its people now find, and 
may forever find, their way to Europe by New York, to 
South America and Africa by New Orleans, and to Asia 
by San Francisco. But separate our common country into 
two nations, as designed by the present rebellion, and 
every man of this great interior region is thereby cut off 
from some one or more of these outlets — not perhaps by 
a physical barrier, but by embarrassing and onerous trade 
regulations. 

Our national strife springs not from our permanent part, 
not from the land we inhabit, not from our national home- 
stead. There is no possible severing of this but would 
multiply and not mitigate evils among us. In all its adap- 
tations and aptitudes it demands union and abhors sep- 
aration. 

Our strife pertains to ourselves — to the passing genera- 
tions of men; and it cannot without convulsion be hushed 
forever with the passing of one generation. . . . 

Fellow citizens, we cannot escape history. We of this 
Congress and this Administration will be remembered in 
spite of ourselves. No personal significance or insignificance 
can spare one or another of us. The fiery trial through which 
we pass will light us down, in honor or dishonor, to the latest 
generation. . . . We shall nobly save or meanly lose the last, 
best hope on earth. . . . 

467 



OBSTACLES TO PEACE 

"We of this Congress and this Administration" can 
prevent serious trouble to this nation and this conti- 
nent more easily than following governments. Every 
year will make the problem more difficult, and if 
neglected nothing but a war, and a war under modern 
conditions, will solve the Mexican question and re- 
establish our natural security. 

Lincoln was one of our greatest statesmen. 

Let us glance back at the early deeds of our country, 
when the United States was young. Our country was a 
mere infant. Not so the men of that day. They were 
as concerned with the well-being of the Republic a 
hundred years after their time as they were with the 
immediate problems. For security they made the 
Louisiana Purchase. When the treaty of purchase 
was signed, Livingston remarked to Monroe: 'We 
have lived long, but this is the noblest work of our 
lives." 

When Tripoli made demands on us that Jefferson 
characterized as unfounded either in right or compact, 
"I sent," he said, in his first Annual Message to Con- 
gress December 8, 1801, "a small squadron of frigates 
into the Mediterranean, with assurances to that power 
of our sincere desire to remain in peace, but with or- 
ders to protect our commerce against the threatened 
attack." 

This "small squadron" settled matters satisfactorily. 
In his Annual Message, November 8, 1804, Jefferson 
said : — 

The Bey of Tunis having made requisitions unauthorized 
by our treaty, their rejection has produced from him some 
expressions of discontent. But to those who expect us to 
calculate whether a compliance with unjust demands will 

468 



THE LESSON TO CUR OWN COUNTRY 

not cost us less than a war we must leave as a question for 
calculation for them also whether to retire from unjust de- 
mands will not cost them less than a war. 

We, not Europe, settled the Barbary pirates. And 
when Greece was fighting for release from Turkish rule 
President Monroe expressed the ardent sympathy of 
this country for the aspiration of Greece. 

Madison, also, in a letter to Monroe, said: — 

Will it not be honorable in our country to invite the 
British Government to extend the "avowed disapproba- 
tion" of the project against the Spanish colonies to the en- 
terprise of France against Spain herself, and even to join 
in some declaratory act in behalf of the Greeks? 

Commenting on this and other statements of the 
Elder Statesmen, Colonel Harvey writes in the "North 
American Review" (February, 1917): — 

So here was this thoughtful and scholarly "Father of the 
Constitution" suggesting that we should make an alliance 
with Great Britain for the purpose not alone of protecting 
the South American Republics from re-subjugation, but 
also of intervention — Anglo-American intervention — be- 
tween France and Spain, and between Turkey and Greece. 
For while he spoke primarily of mere words of "disappro- 
bation" of France's aggressions upon Spain, and of a mere 
"declaratory act" in favor of Greece, he recognized the 
fact that such declarations might imply a pledge to follow 
them up with war; in which case, he said, "we ought to com- 
pare the good to be done with the little injury to be appre- 
hended to the United States, shielded as their interests 
would be by the power and the fleets of Great Britain 
united with their own." In short, we were to join Great 
Britain in an alliance for waging war against France for 
the protection of Spain and against Turkey for the libera- 
tion of Greece! Surely, there was no "policy of isolation" 
in Madison's mind. 

469 



OBSTACLES TO PEACE 

Let us consider the magnificent gesture with which 
the baby giant of the West said to the powerful na- 
tions of Europe that all the Americas must hereafter 
be free from aggression on their part. The greatest 
and most beneficent act of statesmanship in a hundred 
years was the assertion of the Monroe Doctrine, which 
neutralized the Western Hemisphere. Our country did 
this in its babyhood. In that far-away time we said to 
Russia that she must not colonize below the latitude of 
fifty-four degrees, and later we purchased Alaska. We 
recognized what all can see now, that the Pacific will 
in time be Europeanized. 

Our Elder Statesmen concerned themselves with 
the preservation of human right. 

Until August, 1914, the United States enjoyed the 
reputation made by the great Statesmen. The names 
of Washington and Lincoln meant something in the 
world. " What will America think? " meant something. 

We cannot too often fix our minds on the incredible 
crimes Germany has perpetrated and is perpetrating 
in Belgium. 

Professor Karl Ballod, in Schmoller's "Jahrbuch 
fur Gesetzgeburg, Verwaltung und Volkswirtschaf t " 
(1916), says : "The requisitions made in Belgium have 
more than compensated the losses incurred by Germany 
as a result of the Russian invasion of East Prussia." 
Going into details, he states that three million soldiers 
have received, from Belgium and Northern France, 
at least 4000 gr. of meat, 50 gr. of butter or fat, 60 gr. 
of bread, 600 gr. of potatoes per day and per head. 
The total equals 44 per cent of the total consumption 
of Germany in meat, 6 per cent of her total consump- 
tion in bread and potatoes. 

470 



THE LESSON TO OUR OWN COUNTRY 

Let us take just one little village, Middleburg, with 
850 inhabitants. Here are the requisitions for six 
weeks : — 

It had to give up to the invader, within six weeks, 100 
pigs, 100,000 kg. of wheat and rye, 50,000 kg. of beans, 
50,000 kg. of oats, 150,000 kg. of straw. When this requisi- 
tion was made, the inhabitants had already delivered to the 
German troops 50 cows, 35 pigs, 100 hens, 1600 kg. of oats, 
and 1600 kg. of straw. 

In an article by Ferdinand Hoff, member of the 
Reichstag, occurs this statement : — 

The needs and the interests of our unparalleled army and 
of the German Fatherland must, of course, be cared for first 
of all, and we ought to see that the important economic and 
other forces as well as the plants of the country [Belgium] 
shall be utilized for the benefit of either. 

Meantime hundreds of thousands of little children 
are underfed and are rapidly reaching a condition which 
will irretrievably destroy their health for life. Mil- 
lions in Belgium suffer for lack of sufficient food. 

Let us not forget that now in 1917 these things 
are happening. 

Deportation scene in Warsaw, reported in London 
Times, January 31, 1917 

More crushing and agonizing than this increasing 
famine, however, is the moral oppression, the menace of 
which is over the country. The "Courts of Blood" perform 
their work without cessation. Firing parties are always at 
work. In the neighborhood of Pilawa absolutely innocent 
people have been shot. Search is made continually in pri- 
vate houses to discover a trace of connection with "the ene- 
mies " — meaning the Allies. Lamentable and heartrending 
scenes, which leave behind them in the innermost being a 
hatred which nothing can uproot, are to be seen everywhere. 

471 



OBSTACLES TO PEACE 

Before my departure I saw with my own eyes how the 
Germans proceed m the sweeping away of men At night 
cordons of troops surrounded a workLg-class quarter at 
Warsaw not far from the Nadwislanska Station with loaded 
rifles. "Alies heraus!" (all out) ordered a sergeant Then 
occurred a tragic scene. The soldiers chose here and there 
those men and women whom they thought suitable, sep- 
arated brothers and sisters, mothers and children, and com- 
pelled those whom they declared good for slavery to leave 
immediately. Thus more than one hundred thousand men 
and women were removed from the part of the countrv 
under the Government of Warsaw. Young women and 
girls alike are torn from their family and collected in groups 
pell-mell with women of evil life, with the lowest of their 
sex. The most beautiful women are reserved for the offi- 
cers. Deportation trains leave the country every dav for 
Germany. There, as in Poland, the hardest labor is im- 
posed on the deported with in addition a severe regime of 
terrorism and of punishments. My unhappy fellow coun- 
trymen are compelled to lie on the ground without cover- 
ing, exposed to all the hardships of the cold weather 

In Poland there is a regime of misery which no civilized 
people would dare to impose upon its worst criminals, 
luberculosis is consequently beginning to make frightful 
ravages among the emaciated population. But in spite of 
everything the energy of the unhappy people is not giving 
way. Little account is made of fines, espionage, prison. 
lhey mock the enemy, whom they detest. They write Pol- 
ish songs which they sing to German tunes. To the air of 
JJeutschland, Deutschland iiber Alles," they sino- "Nie- 
miec, Niemiec, co za scierwa," which means, "Germanv 
Germany, ferocious beast." And the Germans hear the air 
without understanding the words, and approve, flattered. 

The new Turkish victims 

Information received in authoritative quarters in London 
shows that the Turks are carrying out a deliberate policv 
oi destruction of Arabs, with the object apparently of ex- 

472 



THE LESSON TO OUR OWN COUNTRY 

terminating them as they have endeavored to exterminate 
the Armenians. 

In pursuance of this object, they surrounded the whole 
region of the Lebanon with a military cordon, thus pre- 
venting food getting through, with the result that about 
half the Christian and Druse Arabs in that zone have died 
of starvation. They have devastated Syria and Palestine 
on the pretext of getting fuel, and have ruined olive trees 
and orange gardens. They have deported large numbers of 
the most illustrious Arab families, and have hanged on the 
flimsiest pretext all Arab leaders on whom they could lay 
their hands, no matter whether they were pro- or anti-Turk. 
The agricultural population has been pressed more heavily 
with conscription than any other section of the Turkish 
people, and has been exposed on all the worst fronts. Such 
individuals as have been left behind have been infected with 
typhus by the deliberate sending into the villages of typhus- 
stricken Armenians to act as carriers of the disease. For- 
tunately, however, Arab vitality is very strong. 

Let us realize that the colossal thefts of Germany 
in Belgium consist in robbing the farmer of his cows 
and pigs and horses, the manufacturer of his ma- 
chinery, raw material, and manufactured goods, the 
merchant of his stock-in-trade. It is individual rob- 
bery of the inhabitants of a nation against which 
Germany had no claims. The murder and torture 
and enslavement of the people of Belgium was killing 
innocent men, women, and children, capturing and 
dragging into slavery men and women and boys and 
girls. It constitutes at once the greatest crime and 
greatest menace against ordinary human right. What 
would Washington, Jefferson, Monroe, Lincoln have 
done, judging by history? 

To-day America is concerned with the destruction 
of law, the degradation of decency, and the infinite 

473 



OBSTACLES TO PEACE 

torture and suffering of the people of Belgium, Poland, 
France, and Armenia. 

The imploring eyes and beseeching hands of the 
oppressed are turned toward America, and during the 
early months of the martyrdom of Belgium and Ar- 
menia, they turned their agonized faces to the great 
Republic of the West, the Republic of Washington 
and Lincoln. 

We must thank God for the American, Hoover, and 
his associates, who saved Belgium from immediate 
starvation. The most touching thing I saw in all 
Europe was one of many expressions of gratitude of the 
Belgians to America. In the shop-windows of many 
towns I saw cushion covers fashioned from the little 
sacks that contained the flour sent from America. On 
these sacks were the names of mills in Iowa, Kansas, 
Minnesota, and many other States. But while the 
flour came from America, it was mostly paid for by 
other nations. The American people's total contribu- 
tion equals nine cents each. 

I quote herewith a statement made by Lord Robert 
Cecil: — 

Mr. Hoover and his American colleagues for more than 
two years have sacrificed every personal interest to this 
great humanitarian enterprise. 

It is they who have dealt daily, hourly, with the Foreign 
Office here, with the German authorities in Brussels, and 
with the German Headquarters in Northern France. They 
have been constant intermediaries in a series of most ardu- 
ous international negotiations, and it is they who have 
built up the elaborate system of guarantees which made 
the continuance of the work possible for twenty-eight 
months, and which stands to-day as a bulwark between the 
Belgian people and the invaders. 

474 



THE LESSON TO OUR OWN COUNTRY 

Now, I am not going to pay any tribute to their business 
organization or their efficiency, as wonderful as these things 
have been. The mere fact that for twenty-eight months 
they have kept alive ten million people without a single 
serious hitch in the machinery of purchase, transport, and 
distribution shows what their organization has been. But 
this any observer can judge as well as I. 

I do not emphasize the slaughter of Americans in 
the Lusitania crime. 

Let us read what Jefferson said: "In a government 
bottomed on the will of all, the life and liberty of every 
individual citizen become interesting to all." And we 
can imagine what Jefferson would have done. 

How far off seem Washington's words when he said : 

The laws of nations make part of the laws of this and of 
every other civilized nation. They consist of those rules for 
regulating the conduct of nations toward each other, which, 
resulting from right reason, receive their obligations from 
that principle and from general assent and practice. 



CHAPTER XXVI 

HEROIC VOICES 

A young Irish girl, speaking of her brother who had 
been wounded twice, and had received no furlough, 
said: "I am always afraid that word may come he is 
killed, and I don't know how I could tell my mother." 
She spoke of others of her young companions who were 
at the front. Then, referring to a conversation in which 
they were speaking of the end of the war, she said, 
"A friend of mine said, 'Yes, you will see the end of the 
war, but I won't.' So many feel that way." 

Will Irwin said, "I was photographing a regiment 
as it marched to Verdun, and a French youth called 
out, 'You are photographing the dead.'" 

Then the Irish girl spoke of one and another of her 
friends who had gone, feeling that they would never 
see England again, and there came a look into her eyes 
that was beyond tears, and reminded me of something 
I had seen in the railway station at Manchester. When 
a train full of soldiers was just pulling out, "Such a 
train goes every day toward the South," a man re- 
marked to me. But as the train left, I looked at the 
host of women and girls who had come to bid farewell. 
I saw almost no tears, but there was a look of tender, 
yearning admiration, almost reverence, and above all 
of eager longing and mothering. But no tears, and when 
I saw the look in the eyes of the young Irish girl, there 
came to my mind the words, "And He shall wipe 
away all tears from their eyes"; only not as I had un- 
derstood the words. Here is a people beyond tears. 

476 






HEROIC VOICES 

One afternoon I noticed a great throng of people in 
front of Charing Cross Station. In a moment an am- 
bulance passed; inside a soldier waved his hand to the 
cheering of the people. He was cared for by a nurse. 

Everv few seconds an ambulance would come out 
of the station with its one or two soldiers, and the great 
concourse of people would welcome them and throw 
flowers to them. Those soldiers had been through the 
hell at the front, and all over the Kingdom the trains 
brought back to their people the maimed and the 
broken, day by day, in return for the magnificent youth 
who had marched away with such bravery and power. 

This war has no illusions. The youth who go forth 
to such conditions as were never imagined before, 
know what they will find and endure. 

Many letters are written to be sent home only if the 
writer is killed. I print two such letters : — 

"But we shall live forever" 

A soldier boy's last letter 

(Lieutenant Eric L. Townsend, twenty years old) 

Sept. 8, 1916. 
Dearest Mother and Father: — 

You are reading this letter because I have gone under. 

Of course I know you will be terribly cut up, and that 
it will be a long time before you get over it, but get over it 
you must. You must be imbued with the spirit of the navy 
and the army to "carry on." You will still have dear little 
Donald, who is safe, at any rate for some while. If he 
should ever have to go on active service I somehow feel that 
his invariable good luck will bring him through. 

You must console yourselves with the thought that I am 
happy, whereas if I had lived — who knows? 

Remember the saying attributed to Solon, "Call no 
man happy till he is dead." Thanks to your self-sacrificing 

477 



OBSTACLES TO PEACE 

love and devotion I have had a happy time all my life. 
Death will have delivered me from experiencing unhappi- 
ness. 

It has always seemed to me a very pitiful thing what 
little difference the disappearance of a man makes to any 
institution, even though he may have played a very impor- 
tant role. A moment's regret, a moment's pause for read- 
justment, and another man steps forward to carry on, and 
the machine clanks onward with scarce a check. The death 
of the leader of the nation is less even than a seven days' 
wonder. To a very small number is given to live in history; 
their number is scarcely one in ten millions. To the rest it 
is only granted to live in their united achievements. 

But for this war I and all the others would have passed 
into oblivion like the countless myriads before us. We 
should have gone about our trifling business, eating, drink- 
ing, sleeping, hoping, marrying, giving in marriage, and 
finally dying with no more achieved than when we were 
born, with the world no different for our lives. Even the 
cattle in the field fare no worse than this. They, too, eat, 
drink, sleep, bring forth young, and die, leaving the world 
no different from what they found it. 

But we shall live forever in the results of our efforts. 

We shall live as those who by their sacrifice won the great 
war. Our spirits and our memories shall endure in the proud 
position Britain shall hold in the future. The measure of 
life is not its span, but the use made of it. I did not make 
much use of my life before the war, but I think I have done 
so now. 

One sometimes hears people say, when a young man is 
killed, "Poor fellow, cut off so early, without ever having 
had a chance of knowing and enjoying life!" But for my- 
self, thanks to all that both of you have done, I have 
crowded into twenty years enough pleasures, sensations, 
and experiences for an ordinary lifetime. Never brilliant, 
sometimes almost a failure in anything I undertook, my 
sympathies and my interests somehow or other — why, 
I cannot tell — were so wide that there was scarcely an 
amusement, an occupation, a feeling which I could not 

478 



HEROIC VOICES 

appreciate. And, as I have said, of most of these I had 
tasted. 

I don't suppose I ever met anybody who was not my 
superior in knowledge or achievement in one particular 
subject; but there his knowledge and his interest ended; 
whereas my interests comprised nearly the whole field of 
human affairs and activities. And that is why it is no hard- 
ship for me to leave the world so young. 

Well, I have talked a lot of rot which must have given 
you great pain to read and which will not bring you much 
comfort. I had intended to try and say words of comfort, 
but that scarcely being possible, it has drifted into a sort 
of confession of faith. 

To me has been given the easier task; to you is given the 
more difficult — that of living in sorrow. Be of good cour- 
age that at the end you may give a good account. 

Kiss Donald for me. Adieu, best of parents. 

Your loving son, 

Eric. 

A letter written by a schoolmaster from Sousse, Algeria, on 
the evening of the assault in which he fell 

My dear little Mamma: — 

I hope that you will never receive this letter, for if it 
comes some day it will be because I shall have gone to re- 
join grandfather, papa, and my dear little brother. 

This idea of death does not terrify me the least in the 
world; if I fall it will be for France while doing my duty, 
as so many men are doing at this moment. You are the 
only one for whom I am anxious; and I ask, "What will 
become of my poor mamma?" 

If it should happen that I die, this is what you must do : 
To begin with you must have and keep perfect calm. Keep 
all your self-possession and do not go through the streets 
crying in your despair. Your suffering will be calm and 
dignified. 

Next, you will go to Coulonges, or rather to Luche-Tou- 
arsais, to the tomb of papa; you will tell him that both his 

479 



OBSTACLES TO PEACE 

sons died doing their duty, and that his son-in-law did the 
same. Father will be content to know that his big Rudolph 
and his little Emile fell on the field of honor. You will tell 
him also that Rudolph fell wearing his epaulettes facing 
the enemy and at the head of his men. He will be happy, 
our dear father, and you, dear mamma, will have the satis- 
faction of having given birth to men of worth. 

You will go back to your work at the station of Chef-Bou- 
tonne, and you will stay there until the time when you shall 
think yourself weary enough and to have worked enough to 
rest yourself. Then you will return to Alsace to be a French- 
woman again, and when you are at Thann or at Strass- 
bourg you will tell yourself that it is because your sons have 
contributed to give back our dear provinces to France. 

Let this thought be sweet to your heart ! It will be a con- 
solation in your old age, which will be very long. 

I wish and desire for you always good courage and con- 
fidence. The sacrifice once accepted, joy in resignation 
makes us strong. 

You will thrust far from you all anger against any, who- 
soever it may be. You will not be jealous of mothers who 
shall have kept their children alive. If you sometimes sigh 
when you see my brother's comrades or mine, remember 
that your sons suffer no more and that their glorious death 
is well worth the paltry existence of those who remain. 

You promise me faithfully, do you not? If I should not 
come back again you will tell yourself that the last thoughts 
of your big son were for you and for Blanche and that from 
the Paradise of the brave I will watch over you both. 

Some kind kisses, then, courage and strength of heart 
in life and in death ! Your big son who loves you well. 

Rudolph. 

Farm of Berthonval 
(Pas-de-Calais) 

The following letter is printed in a volume entitled 
"The German Spirit," by Kuno Francke. I often no- 
ticed in the eyes of the young soldiers going to the 
front, just such a look as is described in this letter. 

480 






HEROIC VOICES 

It is from a widow living near Lake Constance, 
whose eldest son, a young Uhlan who volunteered fresh 
from the Gymnasium, had come home on furlough for 
the Christmas holidays : — 

On the twenty-fourth I rode to Constance to fetch our 
Christmas surprise, our dear tall Uhlan who was allowed 
to spend three whole days with us. It was a wonderful time 
for us. The children dragged him about everywhere, from 
the cellar to the attic, from the garden into the field. It 
was a joy to see him playing for them gay riders' songs on 
the piano, whistling tunes to the guitar, etc. But he has 
grown very serious. A veil lies over his youthful face; and 
there is something touchingly protecting in the way in 
which he behaves toward the children. His features in re- 
pose are strangely sad; and strangely mature he seems 
when he talked, so reservedly and yet so understandingly, 
with a neighbor who had just heard of the death of his only 
son. There were three steamers full of reservists when, on 
the third day, I accompanied him across the lake. Some 
fifty people were at the pier and waved good-bye. A young 
lad next to us on the steamer, who had kept up waving 
back a long time, broke into despairing sobs when his aged 
mother vanished out of sight. But they all spoke firmly and 
with wonderful elevation about our beloved Fatherland. 
It helped me to keep myself in hand. And now — as God 
wills. 

Here is a little letter which gives a glimpse of what 
the universal sentence to death means : — 

April U, 1916. 
To-day is my nineteenth birthday. How shall I celebrate 
it? By rain and artillery fire, crouching in an underground 
hole like a mole. To be only nineteen and to have been 
seventeen months in the war! Where shall I celebrate my 
twentieth anniversary? 

Meanwhile he w T as taken prisoner April 15. 

481 



OBSTACLES TO PEACE 

From many sources I have collected these little 
stories of reality : — 

The most trying days at Rheims were those when the 
troops of the invaders occupied the city. A few grief- 
stricken neighbors were gathered for prayer in the small 
quarters. Suddenly some one was heard knocking at the 
window. The adjutant opened it, and saw a German sol- 
dier. 

At sight of the praying group the man drew back, utter- 
ing excuses. But the adjutant, who did not know a word 
of German, beckoned him to stay, and then, from his coat 
pocket he drew forth a photograph of his wife and children, 
and began to sob as he tried to make the officers under- 
stand that he too was a converted man ! 

Captain Robinson was in charge of a British vessel 
which, ignoring a signal to take to the boats, was shelled 
and chased by a German submarine. At last the steering- 
gear was destroyed and the ship was compelled to stop. 
The captain gave Betty, a Pomeranian ten months old, to 
the second officer to put into the boat, but in passing the 
dog down one of the crew dropped it into the water. 

When Captain Robinson entered the boat Betty could 
be seen swimming toward the submarine. Without hesi- 
tation the captain jumped into the water, swam about a 
quarter of a mile, and put the dog on his shoulder. As the 
submarine had by this time drawn up to him, he laid hold 
of her in order to recover his breath. The commander then 
said, in imperfect English, "I make up my mind to blow up 
your boats for your not stopping ship, but for you saving 
little dog." 

A young officer was reported wounded and missing. After 
some weeks his parents received a letter through Denmark 
to this effect. It was written in German, from a sergeant in 
the German Army, "somewhere in France": — 

Dear Sir: — I have promised your son to write this 
to you. By the good guidance of God I found your 

482 



HEROIC VOICES 

son in a shell-hole wounded. He had lain there two 
days. As the Lord Jesus Christ bids us love our enemies, 
I ministered to him, bound up his wounds, and gave 
him bread and wine. In a short time he revived, and I, 
with some of my men, carried him to a place of safety. 
He is now in hospital being well cared for. 

A Salvationist sailor's self-sacrifice is related in " Deeds 
of Love and Courage " — the social report just published 
by the Salvation Army. 

It was told by a sailor who entered the Salvation Army 
Hall at Sheerness. 

I was on the (one of the cruisers torpedoed in 

the North Sea) when she sank. I, and another mem- 
ber of the crew, a Salvationist, had been swimming 
about in the water for two hours or more and were 
almost exhausted, when just as we were about to give 
up we saw a piece of spar, we made for it, and took 
hold. But, alas! it was not big enough to keep us 
both afloat. We looked at each other. For a time, 
one took hold while the other swam, and then we 
changed over. 

We kept this up for a bit, but it was evident we 
were getting weaker. Neither of us spoke for a while, 
and then presently the Salvationist said: "Mate, 
death means life to me: you are not converted, you 
hold on to the spar and save yourself; I'll let go. 
Good-bye!" 

And he let go and went down ! 

Grand-Pere l 

And so when he reached my bed 
The General made a stand : 
"My brave young fellow," he said, 
"I would shake your hand." 

So I lifted my arm, the right, 
With never a hand at all; 

1 From Rhymes of a Red-Cross Man, by Robert W. Service. 

483 




OBSTACLES TO PEACE 

Only a stump, a sight 
Fit to appal. 

"Well, well. Now that's too bad! 
That's sorrowful luck," he said; 
"But there! You give me, my lad, 
The left instead." 

So from under the blanket's rim 
I raised and showed him the other, 
A snag as ugly and grim 
As its ugly brother. 

He looked at each jagged wrist; 
He looked but he did not speak; 
And then he bent down and kissed 
Me on either cheek. 

You wonder now I don't mind 
I had n't a hand to offer . . . 
They tell me (you know I 'm blind) 
'T was Grand-pere Joffre. 

The Women of France 

The Countess of Sancy announces the death of her 
son to her friends in the following words : — 

It is with a proud and broken heart that I announce 
the death on the field of honor of my well-beloved Alain: 
with me you will weep for this incomparable son. Let us 
pray and cry: "Vive la France!" 

An Alsatian, the widow Adam, lost her eldest son, 
and later her second son, slain at Dornach; weeping she 
writes thus to her daughter: — 

His death is an honor to him and to us. I pray God for 
the success of our arms. Vive la France! la Belgique, 
l'Angleterre et la Russie ! 

A good woman who keeps a grocery in Noisy-le-sec, 
Mme. Galliwa, the mother of twelve children, has had 

484 



HEROIC VOICES 

six sons slain by the enemy in the space of a few days, 
and she replies thus to a relative who had endeavored 
to comfort her: "I had rather they were all dead than 
to allow the Germans to enter France! " 

All know the story of Edith Cavell, but it can never 
be told too often. She was in Brussels at the time of the 
invasion. Speaking of the German soldiers she wrote 
on August 24 : — 

We were divided between pity for these poor fellows, far 
from their country and their people, suffering the weari- 
ness and fatigue of an arduous campaign, and hate of a 
cruel and vindictive foe bringing ruin and desolation on 
hundreds of happy homes and to a prosperous and peaceful 
land. 

After her arrest the Military Prosecutor asked her 
why she had helped these soldiers to go to England. 
"If I had not done so they would have been shot, ,, she 
answered. "I thought I was only doing my duty in 
saving their lives. ..." 

Brand Whitlock, the American Minister at Brussels, 
wrote this appeal after she was condemned : — 

My dear Baron y — I am too ill to present my request to 
you in person, but I appeal to your generosity of heart to 
support it and save this unfortunate woman from death. 
Have pity on her! 

When she came to die she said : — 

I have no fear nor shrinking. T have seen death so often 
that it is not strange or fearful to me. 

I thank God for this ten weeks' quiet before the end. Life 
has always been hurried and full of difficulty. This time of 
rest has been a great mercy. 

They have all been very kind to me. But this I would say, 
standing as I do in view of God and eternity, I realize that 

485 



OBSTACLES TO PEACE 

patriotism is not enough. I must have no hatred or bitter- 
ness to any one. 

She then repeated the hymn beginning : — 

Hold thou Thy cross before my closing eyes; 
Shine through the gloom and point me to the skies; 
Heaven's morning breaks, and earth's vain shadows flee; 
In life, in death, O Lord, abide with me. 

Mr. Beck writes of her last moments : — 

The German military chaplain was with her at the end 
and afterwards gave her Christian burial. He told me: 
"She was brave and bright to the last. She professed her 
Christian faith and that she was glad to die for her country. 
She died like a heroine." 

The dark secrecy of the execution gave rise to many false 
statements with respect to the nature of her end. As these 
exaggerated the horror of the deed and intensified the feel- 
ing of indignation against her executioners, they should be 
corrected. Some of these reputed details are too horrible for 
statement. 

The facts as narrated by the German prison chaplain, 
who seems to have been a very noble and humane man, are 
very simple. 

Miss C a veil walked bravely to the place of her execution 
and simply inquired where she should stand. This was indi- 
cated and she was asked whether she preferred to be blind- 
folded, to which she replied, "No." She folded her arms 
and then simply said to the firing squad, "I am ready," and 
was then instantly killed. 

What words could describe the feelings of that firing 
squad when they saw the body of this brave and noble 
woman lying lifeless at their feet? 

Thus died Edith Cavell, assuredly one of the noblest 
women in the history of the world. To her memory a statue 
is to be erected in Trafalgar Square, but no art could fashion 
a statue worthy of the nobility of her soul. 

One can say of her, as was said of William the Silent, 
* 486 






HEROIC VOICES 

who was also assassinated, that when she died "the little 
children cried in the streets." 

I close with these words of Maeterlinck's on Edith 
Cavell : — 

She passed like a flash of light which for one moment il- 
lumined that vast and innumerable multitude, confirming 
our confidence and our admiration. She has added a final 
beauty to the great revelations of this war; for the war, 
which has taught us many things that will never fade from 
our memory, has above all revealed us to ourselves. . . . 

There was a moment of anguish and silence; and lo, sud- 
denly, in the midst of this anguish and silence, the most 
splendid response, the most magnificent cry of resurrec- 
tion, of righteousness, of heroism and sacrifice that the 
earth has ever heard since it began to roll along the paths 
of space and time ! They were still there, the ideal forces ! 
They were mounting upward, on every side, from the 
depths of all those swiftly-assembling souls, not merely in- 
tact, but more than ever radiant, more than ever pure, 
more numerous and mightier than ever! To the amaze- 
ment of all of us, who possessed them without knowing it, 
they had increased in strength and stature while apparently 
neglected and forgotten. 



THE END 



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